It is easy to paint a picture of steady growth of sustainable finance in New Zealand. The total value of sustainable debt instruments exceeded $13 billion in 2021, with rapid growth continuing in 2022 and sustainability-linked loans seeing the highest growth of any lending product last year.
But is this the whole picture?
Building on the Sustainable Finance Forum's 2030 Roadmap for Action and powered by Toitū Tahua: Centre for Sustainable Finance, KPMG has explored the barriers and opportunities related to mobilising capital for environmental and social outcomes.
Key findings
65% of respondents have seen greenwashing in New Zealand's sustainable finance market
53% face barriers to allocating or receiving capital targeted at sustainable outcomes
28% do not perform regular checks of ESG claims used as the basis for sustainable finance
We know that signficant volumes of capital need to be unlocked and directed differently. The opportunities to evolve our financial system and to make a genuine difference are enormous - and the time to do it is now.
The organisations that comprise New Zealand's sustainable finance market are broad and far-reaching. We have drawn on insights and experiences from:
- Banks
- Non-bank lenders
- Crown entities
- Fund managers
- Impact investors
- Wealth managers
- Legal firms
- Not-for-profits