David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital will defy a gloomy market outlook around the stalled shift away from fossil fuels and will target superannuation investors as it attempts to build a $2 billion fund centred on the transition to clean energy.

The former UBS investment banker has appointed former prime minister Julia Gillard to chair the new vehicle, known as HMC’s Energy Transition Fund, which is targeting a 15-gigawatt portfolio of wind and solar energy generation, battery storage, biofuels and emerging technologies over the medium term.