Purpose Meets Profit

As populations expand and urban density intensifies, investment in clean infrastructure development is essential for the building of a truly sustainable future.

Declan Sherman, CEO of the pioneering Australian sustainable infrastructure company Infragreen, is committed to seeing this vision come to life.

“What I love about Infragreen and the journey we’re on is that it combines what I used to do, which was investing in infrastructure assets, with what I’ve really come to love through my career, which is growing and scaling businesses,” Sherman says.

“This is an industry that is going to have a positive impact for decades to come, so there’s a real sense of legacy, purpose and positive impact coming out of it.”

“I’m really excited that we’re measuring the impact we’re having and putting it in terms of what’s happening to the planet.”

With approximately US$68 million already raised for investment, Infragreen is poised to expand its already strong business and environmental impact across smart cities, clean energy, recycling and waste recovery.

“I’m really excited that we’re measuring the impact we’re having and putting it in terms of what’s happening to the planet,” Sherman says.

“We now own 35 megawatts of installed solar capacity, and from the recycling perspective, we have saved the equivalent of about 80,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

“We have also treated 22,000 [metric] tons of organic waste we diverted from landfills. So there are many really good metrics coming through that we use to measure our impact.”

A Paradigm Shift

Untethered to the prohibitive costs of previous eras, Sherman believes it is culture’s embrace of sustainability over the past two decades that has made it much more feasible for businesses to achieve significant impact while remaining profitable.

“If you looked at this sector 10–20 years ago, everything was pretty difficult. We really required a lot of government support, whereas now it has come so far. You’ve got widespread community acceptance now as well as an understanding of how important this is, so the combination of those two means that it’s actually really doable,” Sherman explains.

“You can now have investments or own and operate businesses in this space and they’re going to generate a financial return on their own two feet.”

“There’s a real sense of legacy, purpose and positive impact.”

Sherman believes Infragreen’s strategy to foster long-term partnerships with its investment businesses, coupled with its provision of broad operational expertise to prime their expansion, sets it apart from other players in the space.

“Our biggest difference is our love of operations and our desire to get more involved in the businesses to help them grow to that next level. I think other investment companies have got a much more set definition around how long they’re going to invest for, which can put enormous pressure on a business where everything needs to be done in a certain amount of time,” Sherman says.

“A lot of these sustainable infrastructure investments are operationally complex so you need to be across the operations and be good at it if you want to last and flourish. So rather than be afraid of investing in them, we are happy to embrace it, get in there, work with the founders and say, ‘OK, we are happy to just provide capital if that’s all you want, but we think there’s a lot more that we could offer’.”

Inspiring a Sector

Coupled with his vision for positive environmental impact, Sherman is committed to cultivating a positive working environment for his team. One way he has done so is by exercising a value-based leadership style that focuses on fostering success.

“You want to build a culture where it is very personal and you’re concerned about the personal development and evolution for people at your business,” Sherman says. “One of the key things I have done is go from a really goal-oriented, task-focused set of employees and actions to more of a feeling-based approach to how we work.”

It’s this approach that Sherman believes has helped establish a framework to inspire the founders of the businesses in which Infragreen invests.

“Our approach to investment goes far beyond the financial – we go all in,” he says. “We partner with forward thinkers, big picture dreamers and innovators to develop solutions to overcome the challenges ahead. And we measure our success by the impact we achieve together.”

“Ultimately the winner in all this is the planet.”

Looking ahead at the future of sustainability, one major sector that Sherman believes will continue to grow is the private adoption of solar energy, particularly in the Australian market.

“As the processing power of solar panels has improved so much over the last 10 years, it has meant that the price of panels has come down significantly,” he explains.

“Now, as a homeowner, when you’re deciding whether you’re going to put solar power on your rooftops, it has become a much easier decision and the payback period is so much quicker.”

Sherman foresees substantial growth in waste recycling in the coming years. He believes that with ongoing technological advancements, the future will only get greener for generations to come.

“There’s just so much technology coming through where the machinery and equipment is getting better at being able to sort through, process and break waste down so that it can then be reused rather than sent to landfill,” he says.

“Ultimately the winner in all this is the planet; it’s people, it’s our kids, it’s their kids. They get to enjoy what we’ve all enjoyed, which is without a doubt the most important thing at the end of the day for me.”