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1. Stop lending to fossil fuel and gas industries
Fossil fuel projects like coal mines and power stations need money to exist. Lots of money. And they often get a large amount of that money from banks. In 2023 alone, Australia’s banks loaned the fossil fuel industry $3.6 billion. If we’re ever going to decarbonise our economy, we need to put an end to this lending.
Bank Australia has always had a strict no-lending position when it comes to fossil fuels. We believe in giving people an alternative place to park their savings that aligns with a safer climate future. It’s been galvanising to see other major banks scale back their fossil fuel lending, but given the urgency of the climate crisis, we’d love to see the entire industry review their lending policies.
2. Recognise and respect First Nations communities and businesses
This is a continuing journey for the entire financial sector – us included. Banks are in a unique position to provide First Nations impact lending and investment, plus specialised services in rural areas. And some organisations are already doing just that.
For our part, we launched our First Nations Recognition and Respect Strategy in 2024, which outlines our 2030 vision for working towards First Nations justice, reconciliation and self-determination. We’re focusing on increasing procurement from Indigenous-owned businesses and suppliers and building on our existing partnerships with First Nations organisations – like Seed Mob, Barengi Gadjin Land Council and First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – to amplify their voices and grow cultural awareness for our staff and customers.
“First Nations Recognition and Respect is one of our fundamental responsibilities as an ethical bank,” says Jane Kern, Bank Australia’s Head of Impact Management. “That’s why we’re working hard to make a difference through our public platform, services and partnerships.”
3. Reward customers. Not executives.
We believe that financial institutions can make the most impact when they invest profits back into customers, rather than the pockets of CEOs and high-level executives. That’s why we don’t pay executive bonuses – at all.
As a customer-owned bank, every customer has an equal share, and an equal voice, in how the bank is run. We’re not listed on the stock exchange, so our only incentive is to be a better bank for our customers, our community and our planet. We do this through growing our impact assets, including loans to organisations that benefit people and planet. In fact, we had over $2.2B in impact assets at the end of the 2024 financial year.
We also create a positive impact through our impact fund, which supports projects like grants for the incredible community organisations that bank with us and our conservation reserve (more on this below). It’s something that separates us from other banks, especially the major ones.
“We pay our people – including our executives – fairly for the work they do, rather than relying on bonuses or sales-based commissions,” Jane says. “We don’t provide financial incentives to drive sales as we want our people to focus on acting in the best interest of our customers.”
4. Invest in biodiversity and nature
Around half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature, so investing in biodiversity isn’t just good for the planet – it’s good business, too. Money won’t mean much if we can’t keep the planet healthy, so we’d love to see the entire financial industry commit to science-backed conservation in action.
All Bank Australia customers can proudly say they help care for a piece of Australia. Through our impact fund, we help manage a 2,117 hectare conservation reserve in Western Victoria, the first site of which was purchased by Bank Australia back in 2008. It’s the first bank-owned conservation reserve in the country, home to 251 native plant varieties and 283 native animal species, 13 of which are threatened or endangered. It’s just part of our broader nature and biodiversity strategy, and it’s something we’d love to see picked up by the wider financial sector.
5. Help accelerate Australia to net zero
Banks are in a unique position to help speed up Australia’s transition to net zero, which the country has committed to achieving by 2050. Thankfully, we’re not the only ones working in this area. All the big banks are funding a lot of great renewables projects, and we’d love to see more action in the financial industry that propels us towards net zero.
At Bank Australia, we think 2050 is way too late, which is why we’ve committed to net zero emissions by 2035 – the most ambitious climate target of any Australian bank. A lot of our emissions come from scope 3 emissions in our lending portfolio, including the homes we provide loans for. That’s why we’re working with customers through initiatives like the Clean Energy Home Loan and no longer lending for car loans for new fossil-fuel cars from 2025 to reduce those emissions.
“We pride ourselves on working with our customers to reduce their emissions,” Jane says. “We’d love to see the financial industry continuing to put money into the transition to renewables and electrification. We need to speed up the transition to net zero by putting our money where it’ll do the most good.”
