CARBON NEUTRAL
National Carbon Offset Standard and Carbon Neutral Program
CASE STUDY: Westpac
Established in 1817, Westpac Group was Australia’s first bank and company. Today Westpac supportfive customer facing divisions serving around 13 million customers through a unique portfolio ofbrands including St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, RAMS and BT Financial Group.
Finding solutions to environmental challenges is core to Westpac’s 2013–2017 Sustainability Strategy. This includes a focus on reductions in energy consumption and improvements in energy efficiency. To further minimise its environmental impact, Westpac purchases carbon offsets to compensate for its residual emissions. Westpac achieved carbon neutral certification against the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) in 2013, and has remained committed to meeting the requirements of neutrality ever since.
The business case for carbon neutral certification
Westpac has a long history of environmental leadership, and see the value in aligning actions with commitments. Investment in environmental programs that look to minimise impacts and drive efficiencies has set Westpac up to achieve some significant long term savings.
Under the 2013–2017 Westpac Sustainability Strategy, the target to establish and maintain carbon neutrality is one of eight direct environmental footprint targets which together drive the internal approach to reducing Westpac’s emissions and subsequent environmental footprint.
Westpac chose NCOS certification because it is government approved and the leading carbon neutral standard in Australia.
Achieving carbon neutral certification
Carbon footprint
Westpac measures carbon emissions resulting from the activities of its operations globally. For NCOS certification, the carbon neutral boundary includes the direct operational footprint of all Westpac businesses and brands within Australia, including branches, commercial offices, customer contact centres, business banking centres, stand alone and in-store ATMs, data centres, and tool of trade vehicles. Westpac’s operations in New Zealand are offset separately.
Emission reductions
Westpac’s long history of environmental leadership and focus on resource efficiency delivered an emissions reduction of 40 per cent between 1996 and 2008 for its Australian-based businesses. Following the acquisition of the St. George Banking Group in 2008, Westpac Group has achieved further reductions of 10.8 per cent.
Westpac’s primary focus is on reducing carbon emissions, achieving both energy efficiency and long-term cost reductions. Westpac is doing this through a range of initiatives including improving the energy efficiency of offices, branches and data centres, reducing paper consumption and improving the recycling rate in corporate offices. In 2015, Westpac completed major relocations into new 6 Star Green Star rated commercial offices at 150 Collins St in Melbourne and Barangaroo in Sydney, the first Carbon Neutral precinct in Australia.
In 2015 Westpac also introduced a new target to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 14 per cent across Commercial and Retail sites in Australia by 2017, based on a 2012 baseline and has a range of projects in place to support this.
Offsetting
Purchasing carbon offsets aims to act as an incentive for further reductions across Westpac Group while at the same time supporting the development of emissions abatement projects around the world.
Westpac allocates funding for offsets from a variety of projects globally. During 2013, Westpac sourced carbon offsets certified under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to facilitate emissions abatement in developing countries.
Benefits and outcomes of carbon neutral certification
Westpac was the first Australian bank to introduce an environmental policy more than 20 years ago. Achieving carbon neutral certification marked another major milestone in the bank’s longstanding commitment to manage its environmental impact. Westpac has publicly reported their emissions since 1996. After achieving substantial reductions, Westpac committed to carbon neutrality to further minimise the environmental impact of their operations.
The decision to pursue carbon neutrality continues Westpac’s proud history of environmental leadership, and is one of the reasons Westpac continues to be recognised for its sustainability performance around the world. Including recognition as a global leader for banks in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) nine times since 2002, most recently in 2016 for the third consecutive year.
Challenges and learnings
For a large business such as Westpac’s, ensuring accuracy of emissions data, to the level required by the NCOS standard, requires significant investment in data collection, validation and assurance.
Having robust systems, governance and processes, and a dedicated and knowledgeable team is critical to successfully reporting to the standard required to achieve carbon neutrality under NCOS.
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