Corporate Responsibility
Industry analysis
Analysing Risk and Industry Level
ANZ doesn't just assess the social and environmental impacts of our lending decisions to individual clients. We also take steps to make sure our people are aware of potential social and environmental risks at an industry-wide level.
These efforts take into account both the industries we currently service, and those we plan to service in the future.
Building Staff Knowledge
ANZ makes sure staff are aware of the social, human rights and environmental issues commonly associated with specific industry sectors we service. We provide guidance notes to ensure our staff are fully aware of the implications of doing business with particular sectors.
Industry guidance notes contain an overview of a sector's regulatory requirements, key social and environmental issues facing the sector, and the measures we would expect a client from that sector to take to effectively identify and manage social and environmental risks.
Assessing our Client Portfolio
ANZ has assessed its portfolio of clients to determine our exposure to industry sectors which have social and environmental risks such as electricity generation, mining, forestry, and plastics manufacturing.
This assessment shows that around 6% of our portfolio has high social and/or environmental risk.
We have also conducted an audit of our lending portfolio based on a methodology developed by the CSIRO and the University of Sydney, which measures the social and environmental risk posed to specific industry sectors.
This analysis not only measures our exposure to "risky" sectors, but also allows us to identify those clients most affected by environmental change.
For instance, we can use the analysis to identify clients that would be most heavily affected by an increase in the cost of water, and then offer those clients financial solutions to mitigate the risk to their business (e.g. finance to improve water efficiency).
Case study: Financing Palm Oil Production
ANZ has officially signed up to international best practice principles to guide our future involvement in the production of palm oil.
While the growth of palm oil production is seen as a contributor to economic development in producing countries and to the nutrition of millions of people around the world, it has raised social and environmental implications, including tropical forest conversion, soil erosion and conflicts between local communities, landowners and developers.
ANZ identified the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) principles and guidelines as an appropriate framework to ensure we only support responsible palm oil development.
The principles contain minimum standards for the preservation of soil fertility in oil palm nurseries, mitigation of impacts on natural resources and biodiversity and responsible consideration of employees and communities affected by oil palm plantations and mills.
ANZ was approved as an Ordinary Member of the RSPO in August 2008.
The RSPO is a global initiative to promote the sustainable growth and use of palm oil. Its membership includes representatives from across the palm oil chain, including growers, manufacturers, banks, investors and environmental and development NGOs
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