There are many direct assets and funds that contribute positively to climate action within the InvestSense Better World Portfolios.  Meridian Energy is one of the stand-out direct assets in the portfolio with a climate energy focus.

Meridian Energy is an energy company that provides energy generation, trading, and retailing of electricity to residential, business, and industrial customers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It generates electricity through wind farms, hydro power stations, and solar farms. Meridian is a stable provider of renewable energy with a strong balance sheet, low debt levels and an attractive dividend. Meridian only generates electricity from 100% renewable sources and is the most significant contributor to the New Zealand Government’s aspiration of 100% renewable electricity. Their diversified mix of energy sources makes them more reliable than many competitors and better positioned to leverage technological innovations as they come.

Meridian’s commitment to Climate Action

Meridian publishes their Climate Action Plan which contains initiatives to take ambitious action on climate change and achieve their ‘Half by 30’ target (to halve operational emissions by 2030 from an 2021 baseline). They have also recently joined the UN Global Compact in June 2022 and continue to make progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, focussing on SDG7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG12 Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG13 Climate Action. They are one of the first signatories to the New Zealand Climate Leaders Coalition and have committed to set long-term emission reduction targets with the Science Based Targets Initiatives (SBTi) in line with reaching net zero by 2050.

Meridian Energy owns assets including the Te Uku Wind Farm. Located just outside of Raglan in Waikato, New Zealand, Te Uku is home to 28 wind turbines. Te Uku wind farm generates enough electricity each year for about 27,000 average New Zealand homes. Te Uku is the fourth wind farm Meridian has built in New Zealand. The Te Uku wind farm is located on a working sheep and cattle farm in the Waikato on the Wharauroa Plateau. The area has strong and consistent wind speeds, making it an ideal place for a wind farm. Since first power, these turbines have more than 2,145,625,352 kilowatt hours of energy each year – that’s enough energy to send a Tesla Roadster around the world 396,594 times!

Manapōuri is a hydro power station located in Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand. It has seven 122 megawatt generating units, and an operating maximum station output of 800 megawatts. Manapōuri generates enough electricity each year for about 619,000 average New Zealand homes. Manapōuri is the largest hydro power station in New Zealand, and is located on the edge of Lake Manapōuri’s West Arm in the Fiordland National Park, which has UNESCO World Heritage status as part of Te Wāhipounamu. The hydro power station is located underground, with the station’s generating units housed in a cavern excavated from rock 200 metres below the surface of Lake Manapōuri.

Source: Meridianenergy.co.nz

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Better World Portfolio’s impact on global warming

Using robust research tools we can show the estimated impact of the investments in the InvestSense Better World Portfolios on renewable energy. We have used ethosesg.com.au to analyse our portfolios. The following graphic shows the score given to the InvestSense Better World Portfolio 3 compared to the ASX S&P200.

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The InvestSense Better World Portfolios are a suite of ethically aware, diversified portfolios that combine ethically screened direct Australian equities with a selection of leading investment managers and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on Ethical, Sustainability and Impact investing. For more information, please contact your financial planner.

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Important information This document has been prepared by InvestSense Pty Ltd ABN 31 601 876 528 Authorised Representative of IS FSL Pty Ltd AFSL 408. It must not be copied, used, reproduced, modified, or otherwise distributed or circulated without permission from InvestSense.  InvestSense is the provider of General Advice (s766B Corporations Act 2001). To the extent that any information in this document constitutes advice, it is General Advice for Australian residents. This document has been prepared without taking into account the objectives, financial situation or needs, including target markets of financial products, where applicable, of any specific person who may read it. It is not a specific recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any relevant product(s) and is subject to change at any time without prior notice. InvestSense advises that investors should seek their own independent financial advice before making any investment decision and should consider the appropriateness of the information contained in this document in light of their own objectives, financial situation or needs. Investors should obtain a copy of, and consider, any relevant product PDS or offer document before making any decision. The information contained in this document has been prepared in good faith and is believed to be reliable, but its completeness and accuracy is not guaranteed. InvestSense accepts no liability, whether direct or indirect arising from the use of information contained in this document. Past performance is not an indication of future performance. Source: Meridianenergy.com.au, ethosesg.com.au. Ethos ESG methodology means that scores are normalized from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) by comparing ratings of assets with the mean and standard deviation of ratings for all funds and portfolios on Ethos ESG. Ethos use this normalised approach rather than a simple weighted-average to focus on relative impact, i.e., the impact of a portfolio or fund compared to other potential investments.

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