Jobs and biz news: Supplier diversity organisation, Supply Nation has a new chief executive officer, Kate Russell who starts in the new gig at the end of this month.
Co-chair of the organisation Glenn Johnston said: “Kate Russell brings years of experience in First Nations’ policy, business operations, diversity recruitment, and regional communities, with a proven track record of delivering outcomes.
The organisation, founded in 2009, says it “connects 4300 verified Indigenous businesses on Indigenous Business Direct with more than 740 paid corporate, government and not-for-profit members in every state and territory”.
It works with procurement teams from government and business to “help shape today’s emerging and rapidly evolving Indigenous business sector”. It also verifies that all business on its Indigenous Business Direct listing system are Indigenous owned and are regularly audited for changes in company structure.
Russell has been a senior associate with consultants Thirriwirri a board director of the NSW Aboriginal Land, as well as holding senior roles with the NSW departments of Planning and Environment and Regional NSW
Frasers
Frasers Property Australia was also in hiring mode this week with the appointment of a new general manager people & culture, Jane Wildmun who has wide experience, including with the 151 Property, Urbis and Chapman Tripp. Wildman is also on the Property Council of Australia’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Green loans for Growthpoint and Cromwell
In business news some more green loans have been announced, which you’d expect will drive the decarbonisation of our giant buildings.
Cromwell Property Group says its “first ever green loan” $130 million package with Commonwealth Bank is certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative, which restricts certification in property to the top 15 per cent of emissions efficient buildings.
Plans for the loan involve transitioning an existing bilateral loan with the Comm Bank on the Cromwell Riverpark Trust which is underpinned by the 6 star Green Star and 6 star NABERS Energy rated Energex House – to a green loan certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative. So nice green money as a reward for greener buildings, we guess.
Growthpoint Properties Australia on the other hand has announced a new $520 million sustainability linked loan (SLL) converted from an existing debt facility with interest margin reductions tied to sustainability goals.
Qualifying key performance indicators are the decarbonisation of Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions and improvements in NABERS ratings and the GRESB.
The SLL is with ANZ and Sustainalytics has been appointed to determine that the KPIs are “in line with the five core components of the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles 2023”.
“By aligning our financial strategies with our sustainability goals, we aim to create lasting positive impact while driving value for our securityholders,” said the company’s chief financial officer Dion Andrews.
Greenhouses for future food are the next big investment attraction
In an interesting development that’s got a disquieting undertone is that GreenV B.V, a Dutch-based aggregator of smart greenhouse technology suppliers has snapped up a minority share of a Australian Apex (commercial) Greenhouses.
That alone is interesting and perhaps indicates where a climate constrained world needs to head to manage its food production.
Apex chief executive Folco Faber said he was attracted by the GreenV’s “access to cutting-edge automation and emissions-reducing technologies in a rapidly-advancing Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry”.
“Projects are becoming larger and more complex,” he said. “Our typical client 10 years ago was a family operation and while they are still an important part of our customer base, we see larger corporate interests entering the space with heavy investment worldwide from PE [private equity], super funds and listed companies.
“High tech greenhouse projects are capital-intensive, so the monetary injection is needed if we are to feed the planet.”
Mr Faber said the CEA industry was experiencing rapid growth around the world, with up to 30 per cent growth annual growth expect in the Asia Pacific region by 2026.
And he’s confirmed it: “Much of that growth…was predicated on adapting to climate change, the need for more certainty in growing conditions and the need to increase volumes to cater for a growing population.
“We can see many examples locally as to why things are naturally moving towards indoor and greenhouse based growing – extreme weather patterns, scarce labour, higher input costs for water/energy/fertiliser are all causing customers to look for more efficient solutions,” he said.
“This is also going to enable us to greatly improve our offerings to customers. We will have a key focus on bringing customers efficiencies in terms or energy usage, including more efficient and lower-carbon footprint energy generation for food production and also automation as a way of improving labour efficiencies.”
GreenV said its ambitions are to “grow the mid and high-tech greenhouse industry in Oceania” with significant growth expected as climate changes.