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Aotearoa New Zealand Investor Coalition For Net Zero

1st Nov. 2023

Mindful Money has initiated a new coalition of organisations to accelerate climate action by the New Zealand investment sector.

Mindful Money has initiated a new coalition of organisations to accelerate climate action by New Zealand’s asset owners (the trusts and foundations, iwi, churches and others that own pools of funds), wealth managers (financial advisors and wealth management businesses) and fund managers (the KiwiSaver and investment providers that manage the funds).

The coalition encourages asset owners and fund managers to commit to an established, credible, international Net Zero initiative. We signpost learning opportunities and service providers to help with emissions reduction strategies and plans.

The coalition core group is:

The Centre for Sustainable Finance: Toitu Tahua, Mindful Money and the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC).

Supporters of the coalition include:

Sustainable Business Council (SBC), Sustainable Business Network (SBN), Toitū Envirocare and Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).

Current Net Zero Pledges

KiwiSaver and investment funds with a UN-registered net zero pledge:

BNZ
BT/Westpac
Kiwi Wealth
Pathfinder Asset Management
Russell Investments

Government, asset owners and institutions that have made a UN-registered Net Zero pledge:

NZ Super Fund
Accident Compensation Commission
Government Superannuation Authority
National Provident Fund
IAG
QBE Insurance

Institutions with a Net Zero pledge not yet UN registered

AMP
BayTrust
Foundation North
Mercer investments
Southern Pasture
Simplicity

2022 Follow up Survey Report - Executive Summary

Last year during the COP26 climate summit, investment providers made pledges to reduce the emissions of their portfolios to Net Zero.

A year later, the world is asking: What happened? Have these pledges kickstarted emissions reductions or is it just greenwash?

The Aotearoa New Zealand Investor Coalition for Net Zero has conducted a survey of the New Zealand finance industry to find out what's happened to those pledges, and to track progress by all investment funds in reducing their climate emissions.

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2022 Follow up Survey Report - Technical Report

The second annual survey by the Aotearoa New Zealand Investor Coalition for Net Zero had 50 respondents (NZ asset owners, fund managers and wealth managers) collectively managing $331bn in assets.

When it comes to cutting emissions across investment portfolios, NZ investors overall are trailing their Australian counterparts, who trail the EU.

The survey also highlights positive developments and key findings include:

Most wealth managers have yet to meaningfully engage on climate issues;
Most asset owners are not proactively setting mandates for fund managers to incorporate climate risk and opportunities;
Top-down climate governance from investors is lacking; investment in climate solutions is low.

The January 2023 technical report contains the full analyses and case studies.

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2021 Initial Survey Report

In September-October 2021, Mindful Money undertook a survey to provide a baseline analysis of the funds that have made a pledge, those working on it and those intending to do so. The results show that almost all the major funds in New Zealand are on the pathway to take deeper climate action towards making a net zero pledge.

In future, the coalition will support and encourage deeper climate action by New Zealand investors, and review progress across the investment sector.

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