The $100 million Green Fund was announced last year in order to showcase the coalition’s commitment to finding scalable ways to fight climate change.
But since then, not a lot has happened. On the 1st of March I received an update on the progress of the Green Fund. The update read as follows.
Good afternoon,
You are being sent this email because you have asked to receive updates on New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF). The following update has been placed on our webpage : https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/commercial-portfolio-and-advice/new-zealand-green-investment-finance and also on our LinkedIn page.
What now?· NZGIF is in its establishment phase. This follows the appointments to the board late last year of Cecilia Tarrant (Chair) and David Woods (Director). There is a lot to do before NZGIF will be fully open for business.·
The next step is to complete the Board appointments. Applications have closed and are being considered. Appointments will be completed by mid-May.·
We’re also working on company incorporation. We are in the process of developing the company constitution and other foundation documents, which will enable NZGIF to be incorporated by mid-May. ·
When will NZGIF be operational? Exact timelines will depend on decisions directors make; however, we expect to see NZGIF fully operational by the middle of the year. Thank you for your continued interest in NZGIF. We will provide further updates on the priorities and the process for applying for investment as this is made publically available.
Regards,New Zealand Green Investment Finance
I guess that from an avid viewer’s standpoint, who has read the headlines but who is as yet uncertain how the fund will work, I am a bit worried from the above email that the fund may be losing traction. Which is a shame, because I desperately need some money to go green.
I recently realised by way of a spreadsheet that I can reduce my travel emissions working as a sales consultant by as much as 20% by switching to a hybrid electric car. The decision was first of all a financial one: switching to a hybrid would pay for itself over ten years in the cost of fuel savings that I would achieve alone, essentially providing close to a 10% ROI. (The return on investment is so high because I am looking at second hand hybrids in the $7k range. A new hybrid will not achieve this.) I need soon to update my car anyway, so this seems to be a wise way to go about things.
In my view, this is the sort of investment that the Green Fund should be exploring – environmentally friendly initiatives that also achieve a return on investment in excess of the long term government bond rate. But it remains to be seen in practice whether this would ever happen. The nature of the second hand car market is that it is rapidly moving, with good deals disappearing off the market every day. The fund, on the other hand, seems to be moving fairly slowly.
So I am going to test the waters by sending them an email with the spreadsheet attached. I am interested to hear whether they respond at all, and if so, whether they will be able to assist at all in my scenario.