AgTech investment to play a crucial role in Australia’s decarbonisation journey
This article originally appeared in EvokeAg and is reproduced with permission.
AgTech investment to play a crucial role in Australia’s decarbonisation journey
February 2025
By Justine McClymont
With the World Meteorological Organisation reporting 2024 as the warmest year on record, large-scale investment in decarbonisation has never been more urgent.
In Australia, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is playing a leading role in the race to net zero. With access to more than $30 billion from the Australian Government, the CEFC works with co-investors, industry and government to drive investment in decarbonisation.
So what does this mean for the agriculture sector? And what do investors want to see in 2025 and beyond? Heechung Sung, Head of Natural Capital, from the CEFC shares the latest insights.
Climate investment priorities include technology for emissions reduction
According to Heechung, the CEFC is focused on two main investment priorities: supporting the transition to renewable energy and investing in technologies for emissions reduction.
“Energy transition alone won’t get us there – all the data points to that,” says Heehchung.
“So, we need to work super hard in hard-to-abate sectors, whether that’s agriculture, transportation or heavy industry, because those sectors need technologies to enable them to hit the net zero target through operational efficiencies, new technology and innovation.
“But while they’re doing that, the really important and unique offering that Australia has is around our land-based sequestration activities – that’s land use change and rethinking how land is utilised across Australia,” says Heechung.
“Technologies that supplement and drive value to those themes and sectors are what institutional investors are looking for,” Heechung says.
Scalable solutions needed to catch the eye of climate investors
While different types of investors have different priorities, Heechung says that large-scale institutional investors are looking for scalable solutions.
“The investor class I speak to – and that’s the big licks of capital globally – are sovereign funds and pension funds,” says Heechung. “If they’re looking at technology investments, they really want to understand how scalable it is globally. That’s a critical lens that they apply.”
While technology can cover many different things, Heechung says these investors are particularly interested in some specific macro themes.
“Whether it’s climate change and technologies that advance net zero targets, digitisation, artificial intelligence, or population growth – these are some of the big thematics that investors are looking to invest in for real assets,” she says.
“Technologies that supplement and drive value to those themes and sectors are what institutional investors are looking for.”
