Warning as KiwiSaver, retail investors back oil and gas projects

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KiwiSaver and other New Zealand retail investment funds are pumping more money into oil and gas companies in search of quick profits.

A report by ethical investment group Mindful Money said in the year ended September 2022, investment in fossil fuel companies growing their core business increased by 80 percent to nearly $3 billion.

The report said a number of major oil and gas producers have been “doubling down” on their core business, investing more to expand exploration and field development.

Late last year, the two largest oil companies in the United States – Exxon Mobil and Chevron – announced plans to increase spending on oil projects.

Mindful Money chief executive Barry Coates said people invested in the funds needed to know that their investments were contributing to climate change.

He said active funds were primarily driving the increase in investment in oil and gas companies.

“What we’re seeing is they are looking for short-term profits from a recent rise in profitability,” Coates said.

But he believed the investment came at a risk.

“If we look over 10 years, then the oil and gas companies have under-performed the average market by a huge amount – by around 15 percent per year,” Coates said.

“[It is] even more risky over the forthcoming period when the issue of what’s called stranded assets starts to become more and more an issue. Those are all of the oil and gas reserves and the production infrastructure that is essentially worthless as oil and gas declines as inevitably it must do.”

The report called for a shift in investment away from fossil fuels.

“New Zealand individual investors and financial institutions have a crucial role to play,” Coates said.

“We have already seen the devastation for whānau, communities, our environment and our economy from climate extremes.”