ANZ

The ANZ website contains the following categories:

The About ANZ category contains the following sections:

Corporate Responsibility

Creating financial solutions

Being responsible is not limited to managing the risks to our business. We have an opportunity to work with our business customers to help them manage their impact on the environment more effectively.

ANZ does a great deal of research and development work to anticipate what types of products our customers will need in the future.

Given that environmental issues, in particular climate change, are becoming increasingly high profile, we are focused on practical ways we can support the investment by our customers in energy efficient technology and renewable energy sources, and their transition to a carbon constrained economy.

Sustainable Investment Products

ANZ Sustainable Protected Responsible Investment over Term (ASPRIT) is an investment product which provides wholesale investors with the opportunity to capture the performance of Australia's top sustainability leaders.

Investors benefit from the performance of approximately 70 Australian companies considered leaders by not only managing the standard economic factors affecting their business, but also by integrating environmental and social factors into their business strategies.

The ANZ Climate Change Trust (ACCT) is Australia's first wholesale fund that invests in technologies designed to tackle global warming. ACCT is a six-year investment product which uses the SAM Sustainable Climate Fund as the underlying fund for its returns.

Investors in this product are given exposure to the performance of 40 to 60 global companies that provide products and services to prevent climate change or alleviate its effects.

Private Banking is focused on assisting clients who want their own socially responsible values to be reflected in the investment portfolio developed for them. For international equities, ethical investments can be made through AMP Capital's Responsible Investment Leaders International Shares Fund - approved in 2007 as a multi-manager product offering a blend of three accredited fund managers with a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) mandate. For domestic equities, Private Bankers discuss the proposed shares with clients ahead of investing directly in the stocks to ensure that their client's definition of socially responsible is in line with the investment opportunity.

Investing in Sustainable Projects

ANZ Infrastructure Services (ANZIS) is a specialist adviser and investment manager across all sectors of energy, infrastructure and utilities markets. ANZIS has established two special purpose investment trusts to encourage investment in more environmentally sustainable energy sources and infrastructure facilities.

ANZIS projects include:

  • Bio-diesel: investment in the construction and operation of a bio-diesel production plant near Albury/Wodonga
  • Esperence Energy Project: 50% shareholding in a project to construct a gas transmission pipeline and gas-fired power station in Esperence, WA
  • Waubra Wind Farm: 50% ownership of Australia's largest wind farm

ANZ's Project Finance team has arranged financing for a number of renewable energy projects in Australia and offshore, including:

  • Power generation plants utilising waste fuels (egg coal mine gas and landfill gas) that would otherwise cause disposal and emission problems
  • Wind energy projects in the US, UK and Australia
  • Two major geothermal power projects in New Zealand
  • Construction of hydroelectric plants in Laos and Chile

ANZ is one of the leading banks in the provision of risk management products for carbon markets. Our activity in this area includes:

  • trading in Renewable Energy Certificates, Greenhouse Gas Abatement Certificates and GreenPower Rights to assist customers manage mandated carbon and renewable energy targets
  • providing hedging of renewable and carbon credits for carbon abatement projects in Australia and internationally
  • expanding into the international carbon market, providing risk management services for Clean Development Mechanism projects as developed under the Kyoto Protocol.
Case study: Solar Cities Initiative
More

ANZ is part of the Federal Government's Solar Cities initiative. Solar Cities receive government funding to install solar panels and solar hot water systems on private and public housing estates and provide residential customers with real time information on energy use and access to energy efficiency advice and information.

ANZ's involvement includes offering a home loan with a competitive rate linked to the purchase of a solar power and hot water system; offering finance to enable the installation of large solar power systems for business and corporate customers; and financing business customers to take up energy efficient technology.

Progress in 2008

Loans for energy efficient households

ANZ in New Zealand is partnering with EnergySmart Limited to provide interest free or interest subsidised loans to customers to install energy efficiency features such as ceiling and floor insulation, clean household heating, draught proofing and energy efficient light bulbs.

The offer is part of the New Zealand Government's EnergyWise Homes initiative to encourage consumers to install energy efficiency measures and is available to homeowners earning less than $100,000 and who own a home built before 1978.

"This partnership is a great way to help our customers reduce their energy costs and at the same time make their home warmer, drier and healthier" said Mark Wilkshire, General Manager, Consumer Finance.

Energy Smart is New Zealand's leading provider of energy efficiency solutions for homes.

Encouraging renewable energy in the Pacific

ANZ is also partnering with the World Bank to bring cleaner, cheaper and more sustainable sources of energy to communities most exposed to the direct impacts of climate change.

We will administer $5.2 million of funding over the next five years to help approved local financial institutions provide affordable loans to individuals and small businesses in Pacific Island communities for the purchase of renewable energy such as solar energy, hydro energy and biofuels (coconut oils). ANZ will also participate in the program as a lender.

The program aims to redress the limited access to electricity in Pacific island countries, one of the key barriers to economic growth in the region, and to reduce the region's current reliance on high cost diesel as a source of energy.

The future

Our goal is to provide practical support and advice to our customers to help them achieve in a lower carbon economy.

For business customers, we are setting standards of social and environmental management through our sector policies and implementation of the Equator Principles and through this process continue to develop an understanding of their (and consequently our) exposure.

We also acknowledge that business customers are only part of the picture. There is more we can do for retail and small business customers who, as 'end users' of energy, will face increased costs from mandatory carbon constraints.

We have contributed to work led by the Brotherhood of St Laurence on options to reduce the impact of an emissions trading scheme on low income earners. The Brotherhood recommends measures such as cash assistance and home visits to help low incomes earners identify the most effective energy efficiency measures for their home. Read the report (PDF, 1.69mb).

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