The commitment, made together with the Macquarie-owned Paraway Pastoral Company (Paraway), seeks to reduce methane intensity in the agricultural sector by at least 30% by 2030.

CEFC intends for Paraway, as the Fund’s manager, to use CEFC’s investment to trial new technologies and practices to reduce emissions, and progress will be shared with other industry stakeholders.

The HSF team comprised partner Fiona Smedley and special counsel Yorick Ng.

Fiona Smedley said, “We are proud to continue supporting the CEFC in undertaking its important clean energy investment work, this time in the agricultural sector, a sector which contributes to a significant proportion of Australia’s emissions. This investment adds to the growing pool of institutional investments we are seeing that are driving innovation and leadership in sustainable and energy-efficient practices.”

Yorick Ng added, “Congratulations to the CEFC on this important cornerstone investment in the Macquarie Pastoral Fund and on its collaboration with Paraway. Emissions reduction in the agriculture sector is challenging, and we commend CEFC’s continued leadership in this investment space.”

The Herbert Smith Freehills team has previously advised the CEFC across a range of equity investments, including in a transforming farming platform managed by Gunn Agri Partners, Adamantem’s private equity fund, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Asset’s infrastructure platform, Mirvac’s build-to-rent club, the Australian Renewables Income Fund, the Morrison & Co Growth Infrastructure Fund, the Investa Commercial Property Fund, and the Ellerston 2050 Fund.