New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) welcomes the release of New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) and acknowledges cross-party support in passing the initial emissions budgets in Parliament last week.

Chief Executive Craig Weise said that the ERP is a significant step towards government expenditure more systematically targeting climate change and reinforces the important role NZGIF plays in supporting the transition to a low-emissions economy.

"The ERP outlines that well designed finance initiatives are key enablers of the transition. NZGIF is at the forefront of this both through our investments as well as our market leadership and demonstration role where we work to crowd in private capital to increase impact," said Mr Weise.

Mr Weise said that NZGIF has already made investments in many of the areas of national focus including public transport, energy efficiency and agriculture in order to drive innovation and accelerate the deployment of climate solutions.

"Our portfolio includes deals that will bring in a global player to support the transition of the public bus fleet, provide attractive financing to enable the transition of corporate fleets to EVs and the development of lower emissions nitrogen-based fertilisers.

What we are seeing through our work is that whilst the challenges of climate change are big and ever present in our daily lives so too are the opportunities," said Mr Weise

This is recognised by Action 6.3: Build on the success of the NZGIF in the ERP.

Consistent with New Zealand’s overall emissions profile, NZGIF’s target sectors continue to be: transport, process heat, energy efficiency, agriculture, distributed energy resources, plastics and waste.

The advice of the Climate Change Commission put the responsibility for transformational climate action on all market actors, including financial markets and corporate New Zealand. On a global scale it is estimated that US $125 trillion of investment is needed by 2050 to meet net zero. So not only is there room for both public funding and private and commercial financing but both are needed.

"We are a full participant in the market and recognise the importance of a laser focus on collaboration. This will help to realise the best impact and achieve the most value out of public funding and private investments.

Which is why it is fantastic to see this is captured in the ERP as one of the four main objectives guiding the Government’s approach to funding and financing. We welcome the opportunity to use our knowledge and experience in the market to increase the impact of the initiatives from this initial allocation of $2.9 billion from the Climate Emergency Response Fund," said Weise.

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