Kiwibank partners with Oxygen Consulting on sustainable finance solutions

Building on its mission to mainstream sustainable finance, Kiwibank is now offering its larger, more complex customers tailored solutions to help them integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their business. A key feature of its sustainability-linked lending to these customers is the requirement to have a sustainability strategy in place.

Kiwibank has selected Oxygen Consulting as one of its two preferred partners to support these customers to develop sustainability strategy.

“We are over the moon to be partnering with Kiwibank on solutions that will grow sustainable business”, says Sarah Holden, Director of Oxygen Consulting. 

“The financial services sector is a powerful enabler to a low carbon economy.  It can help drive the pace and scale of climate solutions and has the ability to either accelerate or slow down different industries or activities.  For our clients, it provides another compelling commercial reason to be sustainable.”

Sustainable finance is growing rapidly around the world and in New Zealand, with a soon to be released report by Toitū Tahua: Centre for Sustainable Finance indicating that major banks and leading corporates’ sustainability-linked loans and bonds are estimated to be up to 10% of total issuance in 2022.

The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA)’s Benchmark Report for Aotearoa New Zealand found that sustainability-linked investments increased from $22b in 2020 to $40 billion in 2021, including $1.9b of sustainability-linked loans.

Although channelling money into sustainability sounds like the right thing to do from a social and environmental perspective, it’s increasingly paying dividends for investors seeking stable, long-term returns, with ESG investments beginning to outperform their traditional peer funds.  One reason for the outperformance is the potential lower risk associated with ESG investments. Addressing ESG risks through sustainability strategy can help companies to avoid litigation, higher regulatory costs, stranded assets, and brand erosion.

It also puts businesses on the front foot for the future. “Building sustainability strategy ensures organisations are fostering innovation and opportunities, strengthening their stakeholder relationships, and developing greater business resilience for the long term.  We are looking forward to working with Kiwibank business customers to achieve these outcomes”, says Sarah.

You can find more information on Kiwibank’s sustainable finance options here