Hot on the heels of Palisade Impact announcing first close on its $400 million fund, the Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) has announced a $10 million allocation to the fund.
The fund is focussed on infrastructure, to leverage the long experience of the parent company, Palisade Investment Partners.
The impact thesis is tied to the Race to Zero: zero emissions, zero waste and zero inequality.
PRF is Australia’s biggest charity, in terms of annual grant-giving, but it’s also leading the way in contributing to its mission through impact investing. This investment will be the organisation’s 20th since 2020, and pushes its total allocation beyond $100 million.
The capital itself will contribute to the fund’s impact outcomes, but support of a new fund is another avenue for impact for PRF. Impact Investing lead, Ben Smith, recognises the importance of ensuring everyone in society has access to vital infrastructure.
“Infrastructure has traditionally been funded by governments with access designed to benefit all of society, but we’ve seen how a shift towards privatised infrastructure, among other things, has had the unintended consequence of furthering digital exclusion and inequality. This is evident in areas like high-speed internet, with the Digital Inclusion Index showing that 28% of Australians are technologically disadvantaged and 11% are highly excluded.” Ben says.
“Solving the major social issues of our time calls for new partnerships and innovative thinking. We’re excited by the potential of Palisade Impact Fund to drive change through investment in smarter, cleaner and more accessible infrastructure.”
For CEO and co-founder Steve Gross, the Race to Zero is central to every decision they make.
“As the world moves to a greener future, there is significant opportunity for investors to help drive the next-generation infrastructure that will make this possible,” he said. “Technological advances in areas like clean and distributed energy, clean energy storage and biogas, as well as recycling, will help us achieve this impact, and we’re proud to have PRF’s support to grow the businesses making progress towards a better world.”