Maintaining our focus to deliver benefits for the long term
With the backing of the Australian Government, the CEFC brings a unique combination of financial expertise,
technical knowledge and industry experience to the challenge of lowering Australia’s emissions.
Catalysing new investment
In what was a difficult year for many, from bushfires to the uncertainty of COVID-19, we maintained our focus on catalysing the flow of investment into clean energy opportunities, across renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions technologies.
The 2019–20 year was marked by important developments across the CEFC portfolio, including ground-breaking investments in new technologies and economic sectors. We were pleased to make new investment commitments of just over $1 billion and continued to invest through the economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also a significant uplift in the level of CEFC capital repaid in the year, reflecting a maturing portfolio and the commercial rigour of the CEFC investment approach. These factors underpin our capacity to reinvest CEFC capital in future years.
We recognise that the scale and breadth of our portfolio represents just the start of the decarbonisation effort, with much more to be done. Priorities include stimulating further investment in renewables and energy storage, hydrogen, waste recycling and grid infrastructure. There is also a key role for the CEFC in sharing our financial expertise and investment insights with other investors.
Investing through the pandemic
CEFC capital has been critical to developing the clean energy sector and remains central to filling market gaps – whether driven by technology, development or commercial challenges. This was especially the case in 2019–20 as banks and other mainstream investors refocused their attention to address the challenges of the pandemic.
While the annual rate of new CEFC investments in 2019–20 slowed compared with previous years, new CEFC investment commitments in 2019–20 attracted an additional $3 billion in private investment, magnifying the impact of our finance. In the second half of 2019–20, as the economy tightened, the CEFC stepped up, committing more than $380 million in CEFC finance to seven transactions, working closely with project proponents and co-investors to bring projects to financial close in a timely manner.
Lifetime commitments
Total CEFC commitments since inception reached $8.2 billion by 30 June 2020, helping spur $27.8 billion in investment commitments to clean energy initiatives across the economy.
Since we began investing, the CEFC has made almost 200 large scale commitments, attracting an additional $2.30 in private sector finance for each $1 of CEFC finance committed. In parallel, since inception we have seen more than $1.27 billion in CEFC finance invested in almost 18,000 smaller scale projects, through tailored low cost asset finance programs delivered via co-financiers.
The CEFC portfolio of on-risk investment commitments was $6.0 billion at 30 June 2020, after allowing for repayments, amortisation, revocable commitments and cancellations since inception.
