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We are responsible owners and investors. We invest for strong retirement outcomes for our members, while also considering the impact of our investments on the environment and society.
One of the important environmental factors we consider is climate change mitigation and adaptation. Climate change presents a risk to economic growth over the long term, which translates into investment risk and a risk to our members' retirement outcomes. We actively consider the impact of climate change in our investment decisions and in the ongoing management of our investments and the fund.
Two major renewable energy projects we’ve invested in are Powering Australia Renewables for wind and solar energy in Australia and Darby Servtec Energy Fund which supports renewable energy projects and skill-building in Latin America.
These investments sit in our infrastructure portfolio.
Investment: Powering Australia Renewables
Investment date: December 2016
Powering Australia Renewables (PowAR) invests in large scale renewable energy projects across Australia.
PowAR currently funds four Australian renewable energy projects. The NSW Broken Hill Solar Plant and Nyngan Solar Plant were acquired in 2016. Queensland’s Silverton Wind Farm is now fully operational, and the Queensland-based Coopers Gap Wind Farm is almost complete.
PowAR’s existing wind and solar farms will deliver around 2,400 gigawatt hours each year. That’s enough to replace an equivalent amount of fossil fuels and power 465,000 average Australian homes each year.1
Our investment in PowAR assists in Australia’s efforts to combat climate change through decarbonising our energy generation mix. PowAR contributes to Australia’s Paris Climate Agreement greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of reducing emissions by 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
How the investment is delivering returns to members: AGL Energy has agreed to buy all of PowAR’s electricity and ‘green certificates’ from current and under-construction assets for an initial five-year period with an option to extend by five years.
Latin American renewable energy assets
Darby is a global emerging markets private equity fund manager. It launched the Darby Servtec Energy Fund (DSEF) in 2017 with Servtec Energia, a Brazilian developer and operator of power assets.
DSEF invests in renewable solar, wind and hydro assets in Latin America. The fund aims to develop and own over 380 megawatts of renewable generation projects and generate a potential reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of over 400,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.
DSEF’s existing wind, small hydro and solar farms have the potential to replace their equivalent in fossil fuels such as coal and gas. We expect that DSEF will deliver around 970 gigawatt hours of energy – enough to power half a million average Brazilian homes each year.2
DSEF also promotes economic development in less developed areas of Brazil, including training and education programs for women to support employment.
How the investment is delivering returns to members: DSEF has secured several long-term energy agreements. It will either inject the energy into the electrical grid or sell to individual medium and large businesses.