What does a change of government mean for our climate?
The key question on everyone's mind during our Impact Investing Lunch in November - held hours after the coalition government was announced.
At the Impact Investing Network, we are growing a community of people who care about the impact that us as individuals, and businesses, can have on the world. Our Impact Investing Lunch Series is a way to connect those in the community, educate through discussions, and continue to grow the focus on impact in Aotearoa. We cover a range of areas from impact investment case studies, to innovation in mental health and wellbeing. This time, our discussions focused on climate.
Rohan MacMahon, Partner of Climate VC Fund, and Emily Sutton, Co-Founder of Climate Club NZ and self-professed "climate nerd", shared their views of where Aotearoa New Zealand is at with our climate targets, concerns and opportunities, and where we should be prioritising investment.
Tan Huynh (Impact Investing Network Manager), Emily Sutton (Climate Club NZ) and Rohan MacMahon (Climate VC Fund).
A few of the key discussion points:
Although the Paris Agreement "establishes binding commitments by all Parties to prepare, communicate and maintain a nationally determined contribution (NDC)", there is no obligation to actually achieve these NDCs.
We are currently relying on predominantly forestry offsets to meet our 2030 targets, instead of focusing on reducing emissions in our highest emitting sectors. (Read more here).
Investment is required from both public (government) and private sector investors to meet the scale of challenge required to meet net zero targets. Focus needs to be placed on collaborations at the high emitting sectors e.g. transport, agriculture, waste, built environment.
AgriZero is a good example of both types of investors investing in innovations to accelerate our country's path to net zero.
Climate VC Fund's priorities: when looking at an investment, the first question the team ask is "how does it actually decrease emissions?", if it doesn't, they don't invest.
Our emissions are falling, just not fast enough.
Concerns around trust and transparency in global offsets.
Many greenhouses in NZ are heated by oil and gas. Think about how strange that is. You may be eating a tomato grown by coal.
This year the Climate VC Fund invested in Hot Lime Labs to work towards solving this problem. Read more about the investment here.
Our speakers also shared their favourite climate initiatives:
Of course, Climate Club NZ's newsletters: accessible climate action for everyone.
Project Drawdown: their mission is to help the world stop climate change—as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible. They do this by advancing effective, science-based climate solutions and strategies; fostering bold, new climate leadership; and promoting new climate narratives and new voices.
Climate Action Aotearoa, The Funders Commitment on Climate Action.
Climate Action Tracker: The Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action.
Rohan took the opportunity to demonstrate products from Cleanery, one of their investment companies (pictured above).
Thank you to Mark Longbottom and the incredible Mercer team for their support of the event.
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