James Shaw said the new money made it one of the largest direct investors in New Zealand focused on climate change.
In a pre-Budget announcement, Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the government had nearly doubled the amount of money in its green investment bank.
Green Investment Finance is a commercial, independent entity set up to invest in low emission firms.
The fund – which aims to help drive down the country’s climate emissions – has been given a capital injection of $300 million in new money, taking its total pot to $700m.
It has previously loaned money to companies putting solar panels on commercial buildings, to transition buses and the commercial fleet to electric vehicles, and into agricultural investment in fertilisers.
So far 16 investments have been made, and nearly $280m in capital committed.
Shaw said without the new investment the fund would have been tapped out by next year.
Shaw said the new money made it one of the largest direct investors in New Zealand focused on climate change.
He said the GIF was starting to get to the size and scale he wanted, and the injection of capital would probably last three to five years.
The money comes from the Climate Emergency Response Fund which is fed from the revenue collected from the emissions trading scheme.
Credit: radionz.co.nz
