Chief executive Craig Weise said it was keen to accelerate investments into a lower-emissions economy.

Investment manager Jason Patrick has been appointed as chief investment officer.

Patrick has held senior green investment roles for nearly 20 years in the United States, including positions at BioCarbon Group, established by Macquarie, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“We’re excited about Jason joining us. It’s fantastic to find someone with his history and exposure to green investment. Jason brings significant experience, passion and global perspective to our organisation,” Weise said.

Former PwC director, and Treasury’s lead adviser on the Social Impact Bonds pilot programme, Ed Montague has been appointed chief operating officer.

Ed has worked in both commercial investment and social investing in New Zealand and the United Kingdom and is an experienced financial analyst and investment operations manager.

Jenny Lackey is now head of government relations and communications. She has held a number of strategic and operational roles at the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, most recently as the group manager strategy and performance.  

Weise said the recruitment of these three managers, plus additional appointments to the investment team, meant NZGIF was now able to intensify its level of engagement with businesses and co-investors seeking investment into new projects or facilities that lead to greenhouse gas reductions.

“We have a specific interest in transport, building and system energy efficiency, process heat in manufacturing, and agriculture. We are engaged with a wide range of potential investees that have projects that could lead to significant emissions reductions in New Zealand,” he said.

Weise said the difference between NZGIF and more traditional sources of debt or capital funding was NZGIF’s focus on emissions reduction and ability to deploy capital across a wide variety of investment structures to achieve that objective.