NAB Morning Call Weekend Edition: CEFC, NAB and the path to net-zero
Apr 10, 2026
Richard Lovell, Head of Debt Markets at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, explains how public capital is crowding-in private investment for commercial clean energy. James Bentley, Director of Sustainable Finance at NAB, outlines bank finance solutions and deep discounts for on-farm and equipment decarbonisation. They discuss green hydrogen fertilizer, battery-powered construction cranes, transport electrification and how fuel volatility speeds adoption.
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How The CEFC Crowds In Clean Capital
- The CEFC is a government-funded but independently governed wholesale financier aiming to crowd private capital into clean energy projects.
- It uses specialist teams, deep sector research, and targeted investments to identify tipping points where private investors then follow.
Use Rate Discounts To Unlock SME Green Investment
- Use targeted interest-rate discounts to nudge SMEs and farmers toward low-emissions equipment by lowering upfront financing barriers.
- CEFC provides a discount on its own commercial investment so NAB can offer lower borrower rates tied to energy-efficiency thresholds.
Specialist Teams Make New Clean Tech Bankable
- Dedicated specialist banking teams speed the transition by understanding novel clean technologies and training internal credit teams.
- James Bentley said sector knowledge lets NAB value new equipment and scale financing where traditional backward-looking credit models struggle.