Rest Super has revealed its intention to grow its impact investment allocation and said it will continue to pursue high-quality opportunities following its milestone investment with the Palisade Impact Fund.
Namely, the recent addition to Rest’s portfolio represents a further step towards the fund’s target to achieve a 1 per cent allocation to impact investments by 2026.
As such, Rest deputy chief investment officer Simon Esposito said impact investing is a key element of the fund’s responsible investment approach to help members grow their super while contributing to a more sustainable future.
“Significant investment is required to address the scale of climate change and energy transition and the road to net zero creates investment opportunities,” Mr Esposito said.
“We are proud to invest with impact and with Palisade.”
The recent investment in Palisade, the fund said, is indicative of its focus on generating strong financial returns alongside measurable social and/or environmental benefits.
Palisade Impact, an Australia-based investment firm, specialises in assets that not only aim to address social disadvantage and climate change, but also actively contribute to practical solutions for these issues.
“At Palisade Impact, we believe that impact investment delivers value and we look forward to delivering a strong return coupled with a strong environmental and social impact for Rest’s members,” said Palisade Impact chief executive officer, Steve Gross.
“I’ve known the team at Rest for a long time and it’s an honour to be working with them again.”
Also speaking on the investment, Mr Esposito said that Palisade Impact’s investments are likely to play an important role in Australia’s economy in the future.
“The nature and opportunity set of infrastructure assets is changing rapidly with significant disruption to legacy assets through technology developments, decarbonisation, and greater consideration of social impacts.
“As a result, it’s important for Rest to have exposure to the next generation of infrastructure assets that have the potential to deliver strong member returns over the medium to longer term.
“We’ll continue to seek quality impact investments opportunities that enhance the financial interests of our members,” he concluded.
