New Co-Chairs take Sustainable Finance Forum forward

Two new co-chairs have been announced to take The Aotearoa Circle’s Sustainable Finance Forum (SFF) forward to the next phase of its agenda to transform New Zealand’s financial system.

Highly respected company director and former Reserve Bank director Bridget Coates will join the board as co-chair alongside capital markets specialist, Ross Pennington, a partner at Chapman Tripp.

Ms Coates and Mr Pennington replace the founding co-chairs, Karen Silk and Matt Whineray, who together steered the development of the SSF’s inaugural Roadmap for Action, which was launched today.

“The work that has been done to date is absolutely first class. The current Sustainable Finance Forum has done all the establishment work. Our role as co-chairs will be to take the roadmap through to implementation,” says Ms Coates.

Mr Pennington says, “I’m excited about working with Bridget and with others who share this commitment, to bring the roadmap to reality.”

Bridget Coates has a diverse background in finance including as a former director of the Reserve Bank and the New Zealand Super Fund as well as chair of the Fonterra Sustainability Panel, and of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, an independent think tank and research centre based at the University of Auckland. She is also founder and chair of Kura Nutrition and White Cloud Dairy Innovation.

Ross Pennington is a leading capital markets, banking and structured finance lawyer at Chapman Tripp, advising on a broad range of funding transactions, including infrastructure and other asset-backed financing structures, and sustainable finance. Ross has advised on green, social, and sustainability bond programmes and offers, and on innovative sustainability-linked loans. He is well respected as a prominent leader and advocate with government and regulators, and has helped develop new markets including New Zealand’s Kauri Bond market.