In more business news this week it’s good to see Frasers Property jumping to the lead again with “full sustainability-linked financing” for its Australia business that also includes inbuilt price incentives if it meets certain emissions reduction targets.
The company has secured a five-year A$340 million and US$75 million syndicated sustainability-linked loan (“SLL”) for Frasers Property AHL Limited (“FPAHL)
It’s a first for the company and takes total SLL loan for the Australian platform to 100 per cent.
The adoption of an elevated carbon reduction standard for embodied and operational carbon across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions is in line with the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi) well below two degree scenario to encourage sustainable practices.
Chief financial officer Loo Choo Leong said the move was part of being a responsible investor/developer. ‘We are delighted that this sustainability-linked loan enabled the group to achieve full sustainability-linked financing for its Australia business,” he said.
The latest deal takes the total of SLL to more than S$9 billion – around half of the Group’s net borrowings. Targets are net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 across scopes 1, 2 and 3, which means it must pick up on the emissions from external sources such as customers and suppliers.
Impact investment has a gender bias
According to a new report, men are more interested in impact investing than women, with 69 per cent of men finding it appealing in 2022, compared to 57 per cent of women.
According to asset manager American Century Investments head of sustainable investing, Sarah Bratton Hughes, it’s a signal that the gender gap in Australia has grown over the past year from five per cent in 2021 to 12 per cent in 2022.
“This result may be a factor of men’s overall familiarity with investments and their propensity to invest,” Bratton Hughes said.
But then again, more men than women invest in stocks, stocks, bonds, or managed funds – 52 per cent compared with 28 per cent in fact.
“Closing the gender-related investing education gap will lead to more women finding impact investing to be increasingly appealing as they understand it can lead to more informed decision-making and better long-term risk-adjusted returns,” Bratton Hughes said.
Another finding was that younger people also liked impact investing with 74 per cent of Gen Zs and Millennials ticking the like box, compared to 63 per cent of Gen Xers and 48 per cent of Baby Boomers.
Good to know is that Gen Z is “also more willing to sacrifice returns in order to create a positive impact (56 per cent), compared to just 17 per cent for Baby Boomers.” Hmmm…
Among the causes that investors found of most interest in impact investing was healthcare and disease prevention (33 per cent) environment and climate change (30 per cent).
Heat pumps
Heat pumps are mysterious to many people (well, those of us who are not nerds) so a new report to explain their potential to reduce carbon emissions from A2EP and the Energy Efficiency Council will be welcome.
There is one strong clear message coming through the noise – they can be a big part of helping Australia’s emissions reduction commitment of 43 per cent by on 2005 levels by 2030.
“Reverse cycle air conditioners are very common in Australian households,” authors of the report note in a media statement.
“However, use of heat pumps for hot water, space heating and low temperature process heat is lagging other parts of the world. Check out the report.