The Climate Venture Capital Fund launched last year. It’s Aotearoa New Zealand’s only specialist venture capital fund dedicated to climate. It invests in start-ups that have the potential to reduce emissions, giving them a kickstart to help them grow.
Theresa Gaire, Head of Finance at SBN, says: “As with all our mahi we do at SBN, we wanted our investment policy to be aligned with the purpose, values and ethical ideology we have at SBN. To this end, we require our investments to avoid harm through excluding companies with high carbon intensity, waste emissions, destruction to nature, social harm and human rights violations.
“Further to those requirements, where possible, we require our investments to be Positive Impact, meaning that they must generate positive social or environmental impacts in line with the SBN’s purpose, particularly around Climate, Waste and Nature.
“The Board has approved for a portion of SBN investment portfolio to put positive impact as the most important outcome, above financial returns.
“The Climate Venture Capital Fund that we have invested in meets our requirements for providing positive impacts aligning with SBN’s purpose and values.”
Rohan MacMahon is a Partner at the Climate Venture Capital Fund. He says the Fund invests in companies in New Zealand and Australia that deliver high growth, high returns on investment and high climate impact.
“We all need to do our bit and the Climate Venture Capital Fund allows investors to align capital investing with their desire to reduce emissions, and to invest in companies which have strong climate credentials,” he says.
“There’s clearly a role for new technologies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These solutions need more capital to develop further and reach new customers. Similarly, early stage companies which are capable of delivering emissions reductions need more capital to accelerate their progress.
“These firms will also benefit over time from the Government’s emissions reduction plan – which will obligate emitters to find ways to reduce emissions – as well as from the carbon pricing regime.
“Venture capital of this kind provides direct impact on emissions in a way which we can measure, report to investors and certify through a third party in due course.
“This sort of investment is one way in which people can ‘put their money where their mouth is’ regarding climate response. We can’t mitigate climate risk through our personal consumer choices or our voting preferences alone. Decarbonisation is going to take a lot of capital.
“Those who help drive technology transformation to a cleaner economy stand to do very well out of the process.”
The Fund has a robust due diligence process to ensure the companies it invests in are not greenwashing. An independent climate impact committee approves each investment is climate positive, and the Fund follows guidelines from the Global Impact Investing framework to measure its emissions impact.
To date it has invested in four start-ups, including SBN member Cleanery, which makes low emissions, powdered cleaning and personal care products. The Fund has many more companies in its investment pipeline.
The Climate VC Fund is accepting qualifying new investors until the end of 2022. To find out more visit https://climatevcfund.com/