Hesta

Australian super funds Hesta and Aware Super have become minority partners into a newly launched renewable energy platform, Intera Renewables. Orchestrated by infrastructure manager Palisade Investment Partners, the fund aims to provide investors with diversified assets in terms of location, technology and offtakers, targeting stable returns and funding for new projects.

AustralianSuper, the country’s largest superannuation fund, has followed up from its dumping of shares in Whitehaven Coal with a commitment to a net zero carbon emissions investment portfolio by 2050. The fund, a major global investor, is as yet only a minor investor in the renewable energy sector, but that looks like it will soon change.

A new report from Net Zero Momentum Tracker has found that the Australian superannuation sector, which is expected to hold a majority of ASX-listed equity by 2040, is accelerating its divestment from risky greenhouse gas emitting fossil-fuels. The finding represents another disconnect between the Morrison Government’s gas fetish and investor diffidence with dying industries.

The Morrison Government has announced its plans for a gas-led recovery including an ultimatum to the private sector that if it doesn’t prop up the gas sector the Government itself would step in to build a new gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley and an expanded Australia Gas Hub in QLD. For many experts the announcement reads more like a suicide note than a recovery strategy.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is set to become the cornerstone investor in a BNP Paribas’ issuance $140 million in new Australian green bonds through its Australian Climate Transition Index, an index for investors to parse the companies that will survive and thrive into a decarbonised future from those who will decay and die.

Hesta, a leading industry superannuation fund trusted by 860,000 Australians, has joined a host of other major investment firms nationwide calling on the Federal Government to encourage large-scale renewable investment by setting an emissions target and cleaning up its strategy.