Bank Australia’s Head of Strategy and Communications Fiona Nixon has helped the bank make great strides on the climate action front. But she’s quick to note that the key to taking action is getting everyone on board.
When I started at Bank Australia, or MECU as they were known then, they were just getting started on their sustainability journey; sustainability was becoming part of the DNA of the company. I found the whole notion of a purpose-driven business really interesting, because it combined the desire to have a positive impact with the imperatives of running a business, and the decisiveness and speed of action that needs to be taken.
I was working in the communications area when the decision came to change the name of the organisation. We did lots of customer research, speaking to both existing and prospective customers, and it seemed to us that people were really looking for a bank that would reflect progressive Australian values, including commitments to environmental sustainability and positive social impact.
It was such a privilege to meet with all of our staff at the time, and help them start to understand what we were talking about, and what sustainability really meant. And then we launched Bank Australia.
After that, I moved into a corporate affairs role, which involved looking after our sustainability programs – like the conservation reserve and the Bank Australia Impact Fund, where we invest 4% of our profits each year into environmental and social programs – which really opened my eyes to what was possible for Bank Australia.
Small steps add up
When the bank started to think about sustainability, which was really the result of listening to our customers’ concerns on climate change, there wasn’t this one big overarching plan; it started off reasonably small. One of the first things we did was establish a Green Team, a small group of staff who really engaged everyone in things like recycling, putting solar panels on the roof of the head office, and putting a water tank in the basement.
More recently, we’ve made the switch to 100% renewable energy. One of the best things to come out of installing solar panels was connecting them to a screen in the branch downstairs. It showed how much electricity the branch was generating and how much electricity they were saving. Doing these small visual things started to help more people buy into it and start to see, and understand, why it was important.
Switching to renewable energy can be as simple as changing your electricity supplier; it’s a more expensive option, so you need to consider putting together a business case about why your organisation should do it. The best way to look at business cases is more holistically, and not just about renewable energy. Instead, combine it with other efforts, like making sure all your lighting is energy efficient, or having a campaign to encourage staff to switch off their screens and things on their desk at night.
Over time, these things will add up to be cost neutral or cost saving; if you combine these together, rather than just saying ‘this electricity is going to cost us more’, it’s probably the smarter way to go.
Customers can help you make your case
Bank Australia, like a lot of organisations, is very customer oriented, so trying to make the views of our customers visible to the executives and the board is a really powerful way of continuing to do more and think about what’s next. If your customers are telling you what’s important to them and you’re committed to meeting their expectations, that also provides you with an emotional business case.
To better understand what kinds of practices and actions are required to make real change within your workplace, the B Corp assessment is a great place to start (Bank Australia became a certified B Corporation in 2020). Do you have targets for reducing waste, carbon emissions or energy use? Are you asking your suppliers about their environmental credentials? Are you doing carbon accounting? The B Corp framework will raise all those questions for you.
More climate action = better talent
Another interesting perspective is that companies are competing for talent, and more and more people joining organisations are asking questions about the company’s approach to ESG or their approach to climate or environment. It’s driving change, because employers want to hold onto smart people with the skills that they need, but they also need to be responding to what’s important to their employees as well.
That’s where putting forward ideas and getting support for them – and demonstrating to the organisation that there is a group (and probably quite a big group) of employees who are interested in taking this kind of action – is really going to add up.
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