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The staff cafe in Westpac on Takutai Square, the new four star Green Star office in Auckland
Because it doesn’t plaster green all over its logo, you may not know that Westpac is an acknowledged global leader in financial sustainability. It’s topped the banks on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index five years running and has been selected by the UK’s Climate Disclosure Project as one of the top 500 organisations in the world for its accuracy and openness on carbon management.
For Westpac, sustainability is simply part of its ethos, and part of being around for the long term. It’s been investing in New Zealand’s future since 1861, and even after the recent financial turbulence Westpac has maintained its standing as one of the top credit-rated banks in the world.
This car is red green: Westpac's fleet of Toyota Prius' also carry the carboNZero certification
Under its sustainability strategy Westpac has challenging and inspiring environmental goals, including reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent and landfill waste by 40 percent by 2012. It is also encouraging all of its 5,500 staff and 1.2 million customers to get involved and was the first bank in New Zealand to track and publish its performance in an annual sustainability report.
In its first year of measuring carbon reductions, the bank has rolled out a more fuel-efficient car fleet, energy-efficient computer technology, replaced heating and air conditioning units, moved to a new four-star NZ Green Star rated operations centre and head office in Auckland, and increased its use of video conference facilities to reduce air travel.
“After working closely with our suppliers we now have a robust process in place which has become part of our normal business practice” — Candice Collier, environmental sustainability manager at Westpac
Westpac has also recently launched a bold advertising campaign to increase awareness about sustainability. You may have seen the bank’s new Toyota Prius fleet advertised on TV. The ad features Fred, an average Kiwi guy on his journey to becoming more sustainable.
For Westpac, participation in the carboNZeroCert TM programme’s Certified Emissions Measurement And Reduction Scheme (CEMARSTM) is vital to ensuring this work is accurately measured, verifiable, and open to public scrutiny.
Candice Collier, Westpac’s environmental sustainability manager, says “Our plan focuses on continual improvement such as measuring and managing our carbon emissions and investing in reduction strategies within our operational boundary. We wanted to avoid any sense of greenwash with its attendant reputation risk and find a credible solution at a best practice standard to ensure we remain a leader in sustainability.”
So far the results have exceeded their expectations, both in energy and carbon savings.
“Initially collecting the data to measure our carbon emissions was challenging as there are multiple sources and not all the information was available to us,” says Candice. “But after working closely with our suppliers we now have a robust process in place which has become part of our normal business practice. We are finding that more and more organisations are realising the importance of accounting for environmental performance and by taking this on as a major bank we hope we are encouraging this attitude to spread further.”
