Report
Passing the buck
How super funds are missing a critical opportunity to back Australia’s clean energy transition
Executive summary
Superannuation funds collectively manage more than $4.4 trillion in retirement savings on behalf of millions of workers in Australia. As the global clean energy transition accelerates and the world’s reliance on coal, oil and gas declines, super funds represent a substantial pool of capital that could be mobilised to rapidly scale up investments in renewable energy infrastructure in Australia.
Australia urgently requires hundreds of billions of dollars to build this clean infrastructure and decarbonise our energy system. Market Forces analysis reveals that the nation’s top super funds are directing a tiny fraction of their members’ retirement savings towards the renewable energy infrastructure and battery storage projects needed to power Australia’s future for generations and reduce emissions in line with global climate goals.
This report analyses the ‘direct’ investments made by Australia’s 30 largest superannuation funds, by assets under management, in renewable energy infrastructure and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects since January 2020.
For the first time, this analysis identifies super funds’ participation in financial transactions relating to these clean energy projects. In total, this new analysis has identified $99 billion in direct investment activity relating to 514 renewable energy projects in Australia since January 2020.
Yet Australia’s top 30 funds contributed only $771 million (0.8%) of this total.
This report also considers the ‘indirect’ investments super funds may have in renewable energy projects, including through some holdings with external asset managers and in infrastructure funds. However, this research reveals a glaring gap in information available as superannuation funds do not disclose the full extent of their investments in clean energy projects.
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Many Australian super funds outsource at least some of their investment management to external asset managers, which often don’t disclose information on how much is invested in projects including solar, wind and battery storage.
If the clean energy transition in Australia is to succeed, then the deployment of private capital to renewable energy infrastructure must ramp up significantly. Super funds represent the largest pool of institutional capital in Australia, which presents a unique opportunity for the sector to accelerate the development of long-term energy infrastructure. Yet Australia’s super funds are yet to participate in this transition at the scale that this crucial moment demands.
This lack of capital flowing to Australian clean energy projects is not solely a failure of ambition on behalf of the superannuation sector, but also reflects some real public policy barriers. For example, the Federal Government’s Your Future, Your Super performance benchmarking rules can penalise super funds for holding long-duration infrastructure assets like renewable energy projects. Alternative financing arrangements such as ‘blended-finance mechanisms’ that would help funds take on early-stage development risk also remain limited.
These are genuine constraints that can be addressed through public policy reform. But these barriers are not the full explanation. International pension funds, banks, and foreign developers are navigating barriers and investing in Australian renewables regardless, while the pipeline of projects available for investment has never been larger.
Super funds are often quick to highlight their renewable energy investments, but many funds continue to downplay their investments in companies with significant fossil fuel expansion plans. While this report focuses largely on direct investments in renewable energy infrastructure projects, Australia’s top 30 super funds had more than $33 billion invested in companies expanding fossil fuels as at 30 June 2025, as outlined in the Market Forces Fossil Fuel Expansion Index research released last December.
Worse still, super funds are failing to use their influence as major investors to advocate for an end to new coal, oil and gas projects, which are undermining the clean energy transition and the renewable energy projects that will drive our economy.
Super funds must step up to the significant challenge before us by increasing their stake in Australia’s clean energy transition and strongly advocating for the removal of the policy barriers preventing the deployment of further capital to renewable energy.
Australia’s clean energy transition is underway, but must be supercharged with direct investment by our superannuation funds, affording Australians the economic benefits of owning the infrastructure that will power the nation for generations to come.
Key findings
- Investment by Australia’s top 30 superannuation funds in renewable energy projects represents a fraction (4%) of what’s needed to meet Australia’s mandated 2030 climate goals.
- Direct ownership of renewable energy (3.77 GW) by super funds accounts for just 3.9% of the needed capacity by 2030.
- The Australian Government has set clear targets to achieve 82% renewable electricity by 2030 as part of the nation’s decarbonisation ambitions.
- Based on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) 2026 Draft Integrated Systems Plan (ISP), achieving this target would require 97.1 GW of renewable capacity (excluding rooftop solar).
- Super funds account for a tiny portion of the overall amount of capital invested in Australian renewable energy projects.
- Australia’s top 30 superannuation funds directly contributed $771 million to the $99 billion invested in renewable energy projects since 2020, just 0.8% of the total amount.
- This clean energy investment represents just 0.03% of the $2.5 trillion in members’ retirement savings managed by these 30 funds.
- Commercial banks account for the single largest category of investments in these projects, totalling 57.5% of capital provided.
- Canadian pension funds have contributed more to Australian renewable energy projects since 2020 than super funds have, responsible for $1.2 billion or 1.2% of total capital provided.
- Only six super funds have any identified direct investments.
- Of Australia’s 30 largest super funds, we have identified only six funds with direct investments in Australian renewable energy or battery storage projects: Aware Super, Cbus, HESTA, NGS Super, Prime Super and Rest.
- The remaining 24 funds have made no identified ‘direct’ project-level investments, but 23 of them may have ‘indirect’ exposure to these projects through holdings with external asset managers and in infrastructure funds.
- This distinction matters enormously. ‘Direct’ investment means the fund holds debt or equity in a specific project, contributing capital that helps finance the construction or operation of clean energy assets. ‘Indirect’ investment does not necessarily finance new renewable capacity and means funds don’t directly own the underlying assets.
- Investments by Australia’s top super funds are largely related to the acquisitions of existing assets, rather than construction of new clean energy projects.
- Of the identified $771 million super funds have invested in renewable energy since 2020, over 96% has gone towards asset or company acquisitions.
- Most of the ‘primary finance’ flowing to renewable energy projects in Australia is still coming from commercial banks.
- If more super funds were in a position to provide primary finance during the early stages of renewable energy projects, this could play a critical role in accelerating Australia’s clean energy transition.
- Disclosure of super funds’ renewable energy investments is inadequate.
- The analysis reveals that 29 out of Australia’s top 30 funds may have ‘indirect’ investment exposure to the identified Australian renewable energy projects, but quantifying the extent of this exposure is impossible without further disclosure.
- Rather than investing ‘directly’ in the debt or equity of specific renewable energy projects, super funds can also have holdings with asset managers or in infrastructure funds, which can in turn hold stakes in many projects.
- In many cases, a meaningful dollar figure of super funds’ indirect renewable energy investments cannot be attributed to any individual projects as infrastructure funds or portfolios managed by asset managers often don’t disclose adequate detail in ‘unlisted’ markets.
Summary of findings
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Findings | Figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Total value of renewable energy investment in Australia since 01/01/2020 | $99 billion | ||||
| 2 | Identifiable direct super fund investment value | $771 million | ||||
| 3 | Super funds’ share of total capital invested | 0.8% | ||||
| 4 | Super funds with identified direct investments in renewable energy projects | 6 of 30 | ||||
| 5 | Super funds with potential indirect investments in renewable energy projects* | 29 of 30 | ||||
| 6 | Total number of renewable energy projects invested in since 01/01/2020 | 514 | ||||
| 7 | Projects currently operating | 223 | ||||
| 8 | Projects under construction or commissioning | 60 | ||||
| 9 | Projects in development pipeline | 214 | ||||
| 10 | Total installed and planned renewable generation capacity | 169,643 MW | ||||
| 11 | Total battery and storage capacity across all projects | 165,495 MWh |
Source: Market Forces analysis of RenewMap and Green Street Infrastructure data. All figures based on renewable energy and BESS projects invested in since 1 January 2020.
* Our analysis of super funds’ portfolio holdings disclosures has found that 29 out of 30 funds may have exposure to at least some of the renewable energy projects identified in our research, via external asset managers and infrastructure funds.
Super funds’ direct investment transactions in Australian renewable energy generation and storage projects since January 2020
| Super fund | Transaction | Transaction date (financial close) | Projects | Super Fund contribution (AUD) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aware Super^ | Acquisition of 49% in Stockyard Hill Wind Farm (527.5MW) 2023 | 31/01/2023 |
|
Undisclosed | |||
| Combined Investment in Intera Renewables | 28/03/2023 |
|
Undisclosed | ||||
| Zenith Energy Upsize 2023 | 31/08/2023 |
|
$25m* | ||||
| Cbus | Star of the South Offshore Wind Farm (2200MW) | 27/05/2022 |
|
Undisclosed | |||
| HESTA | Combined Investment in Intera Renewables | 28/03/2023 |
|
Undisclosed | |||
| NGS Super | Waratah Super Battery (850MW /1680MWh) IPP | 29/06/2023 |
|
Undisclosed | |||
| Prime Super | Acquisition of Ferguson and Diapur Wind Farms (21MW) | 5/12/2022 |
|
$80m | |||
| Rest | Rest Super Investment in Quinbrook | 22/11/2023 |
|
$666m* | |||
| Total | $771m | ||||||
Source: Market Forces analysis of Green Street Infrastructure and RenewMap data.
^ Aware Super is also reported to have invested $300m in the Birdwood Distributed Energy Platform in October 2023 in partnership with Birdwood Energy. However there was no transaction data relating to this investment in Green Street Infrastructure at the time of research.
* Includes in-scope portion of portfolio only (utility-scale renewable generation and battery storage projects in Australia)
Note: This table includes all transactions that super funds directly participated in at the time, regardless of whether they still hold the asset.
Super funds’ current ownership of Australian renewable energy generation projects
| Super fund | Project | Super Fund ownership (%) | Ownership start date | Total project generation capacity (MW) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aware Super | Ross River Solar Farm | 23% | 23/2/2018 | 116 | |||
| Stockyard Hill Wind Farm | 24.5% | 31/1/2023 | 529 | ||||
| Snowtown Wind Farm Stage 2 | 33% | 5/12/2023 | 270 | ||||
| Cbus | Star of the South offshore wind farm | 10% | 27/05/2022 | 2,200 | |||
| HESTA | Ross River Solar Farm | 23% | 23/02/2018 | 116 | |||
| Prime Super | Snowtown Wind Farm Stage 2 | 33% | 5/12/2023 | 270 | |||
| Ferguson Wind Farm | 100% | 5/12/2022 | 12 | ||||
| Diapur Wind Farm | 100% | 5/12/2022 | 8 | ||||
| Chepstowe Wind Farm | 100% | 1/8/2023 | 6 | ||||
| Maroona Wind Farm | 100% | 1/8/2023 | 6.9 | ||||
| Mortons Lane Wind Farm | 100% | 26/4/2021 | 20 | ||||
| Rest | Collgar Wind Farm | 100% | 24/6/2019 | 222 | |||
| Total | 3,776 | ||||||
Source: Market Forces analysis of Green Street Infrastructure, RenewMap and other data.
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