“I came across climate and became so passionate and concerned about it, I gave it to my investment team and said ‘I want you to evaluate this independently without any reference to its goodness or badness. He said he liked to keep his philanthropy and investments in separate buckets. “If for this risk I should be getting a 10 per cent return, but I’m getting a 5 per cent return, then 5 per cent is philanthropic. “Impact investing for me is really difficult because it is quite often confused as to whether there is a trade-off between commercial returns and social and environmental impact,” he said. Mr Schwartz said he does not subscribe to the term impact investing, designed to deliver a measurable social and environmental impact, alongside a financial return. The Transition Accelerator will provide support to companies and investors to take commercial and political steps to remove obstacles for undertaking net-zero projects. Mr Schwartz will separately make a philanthropic investment for several million to create what he terms a Transition Accelerator to bring business and NGOs together to advocate for change, which he said would naturally grow their family climate investments. The family investment group Trawalla was founded with his wife Carol, a leading company director on the board of Reserve Bank of Australia and daughter of Marc Besen, the billionaire co-founder of the Sussan fashion chain along with Melbourne billionaire John Gandel.Ĭarol Schwartz, who co-founded family investment group Trawalla, is also an RBA board member. The Schwartz family wealth – estimated at more than $400 million – spans a diverse range of property and investments, including a 23 per cent stake in listed non-bank lender Qualitas and major stake with growth equity investor Armitage Associates. They started the fund with backing from Roger Lloyd’s infrastructure manager Palisade Investment Partners. Its investments include US-based forest carbon credit assessor Pachama, also backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, and carbon farming start-up Loam Bio, which has just raised $US73 million ($109 million).Īsset manager Palisade Impact was founded jointly by Steve Gross, who ran impacting investing for Macquarie Asset Management, and Jeremy Wernert, who was head of Macquarie Capital Asia. Wollemi Capital is a climate investment fund co-founded by former Macquarie Capital chief Tim Bishop. “When carbon emissions are no longer free, it creates opportunities for businesses which produce products and services which reduce carbon emissions.” “Let’s be really clear, this is a huge commercial opportunity, we expect a full commercial return,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t profitable,” Mr Schwartz told The Australian Financial Review ahead of a speech at the Climate Investment Forum in Melbourne on Wednesday. The $100 million to “invest in businesses which create products or services which reduce carbon emissions” includes $65 million already assigned to three vehicles: climate investment group Wollemi Capital, impact investment fund Palisade Impact and rooftop solar developer Allume Energy.Īlan Schwartz: “I’m asking business to do more, to get political, stand up and ask for even more regulatory and policy change.” Arsineh Houspian Rich Lister and philanthropist Alan Schwartz will on Wednesday commit $100 million to investments in carbon reduction initiatives, with millions more to advocate for policy and regulatory change, and insists the money is far from charity.
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