WATCH: ANZ, Pollination & an innovative future

Finance is key to the global transition to net zero, and a new strategic partnership between ANZ & Pollination will help drive critical innovation in the space, according to Martijn Wilder, Founding Partner at Pollination.

Speaking to ANZ Group Executive, Institutional Mark Whelan, after the announcement of a partnership between the two groups, Wilder said the prospect for increased innovation in the space as a result of the agreement would lead to significant opportunities for customers of both companies.

“Finance is key to this transition - debt, equity and new, innovative financial instruments - and [ANZ] has been a leader on that,” he said.

“[The deal offers] a real platform to get together and do some really incredible innovation and really move that pace [of sustainable change] forward.”

You can watch the conversation below on video. 

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ANZ will invest $US50 million for a minority equity stake in Pollination, a leading global climate change investment and advisory firm.

The parties say the agreement allows both companies to accelerate their impact by delivering solutions and support across the Asia Pacific at a volume and a scale unreachable without the partnership.

Whelan said what businesses are looking for through the transition to net-zero carbon was a total solution, one the ANZ & Pollination strategic partnership will look to provide.

“You combine all of that, starting with advice, on how they transition, how they finance the transition,” he said. “I think between the two of us, this is going to deliver a lot of what they need.”

Wilder agreed, noting for some business, their ability to make the transition is critical to their future.

 “For some of the businesses we’re working with, [the sustainable revolution] is a bit of an existential crisis,” he said. “Their old business model isn’t going to work.”

“They need to do new things, to transition over time. The ability to bring the solutions we both offer together is very exciting.”

Whelan said the strategic partnership underpins ANZ’s Environmental Sustainability strategy, which is focused on 12 key priority areas - including advisory and carbon trading - that will help support the bank’s customers’ transition to net zero.