Australia plans to start a green financing programme from the middle of 2024, which will get underway following the development of a green bond framework and investor engagement. The programme, which was announced by Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the Treasurer’s Clean Energy Roundtable, will be managed by the Australian Office of Financial Management. This marks a U-turn on green bonds for the country as it prepares for an economy-wide revamp under Anthony Albanese’s Labour government that has set a legally binding target to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030. Chalmers said the Sovereign Green Bonds programme will attract more green capital to Australia through increasing transparency around climate outcomes and the scale of green investments available. He said it will also enable investors to back public projects driving Australia’s net zero transformation and boosting the “scale and credibility” of Australia’s green finance market. Australian and New Zealand investor network the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) welcomed the roundtable, saying that a “clear green finance taxonomy would provide clarity to the market on what a climate solution is and what it is not, thereby promoting investment in net zero and helping to avoid greenwashing”.
Today I convened the Treasurer’s Investor Roundtable, representing more than $2 tril in assets, to find more ways to work together to maximise the opportunities of cleaner & cheaper energy. Investment in the energy transformation is central to our plan to grow the economy #auspol pic.twitter.com/PWyTuaF1lL
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) April 21, 2023
