For firms unsure of emissions reduction steps, help is at hand.Privately-owned businesses are the backbone of the New Zealand economy and their sustainability ambitions – no matter how big or small - need to be supported, a senior bank executive believes.
ANZ New Zealand Business Banking Managing Director, Lorraine Mapu, says ANZ banks the largest share of New Zealand businesses and sees many of its customers now investing in sustainability.
"We're seeing more and more customers come to us for support and guidance as they consider how best to adapt and invest in their future.
"Whether meeting changing consumer preferences or regulatory requirements, reducing emissions or increasing efficiency, sustainability is integral to the way our customers will have to operate in the future. An important part of our role at ANZ is to support this shift," Mapu says.
Toitū Envirocare, a leading sustainability and carbon certification company that brings together scientists and business experts, finds those reducing carbon emissions can be a way to reduce the running costs of business.
"As we always say, carbon equals cost and if you can't measure it, you can't manage it," Toitū Envirocare CEO, Becky Lloyd says.
The 2022 Kantar Better Futures Report revealed that 43 per cent of Kiwis (in Auckland the percentage is 48 per cent) want to live sustainably. The figure has almost doubled since the 2012 report.
Mapu says Kiwi businesses understood the need to shift to more sustainable practises and the opportunity this brings.
"Acting on sustainability can bring wider business benefits through staff and customer engagement; together with a positive impact on the environment. What we are hearing from our customers is that they want to understand how to do this, and where to start."
ANZ has long supported sustainability, recently publishing insight papers for businesses wanting to know where to start.
" So we are well positioned to provide the 'how to get started' for businesses," says Mapu. "We committed some time ago to supporting business and financial practices that improve environmental sustainability.
"ANZ want to be the leading bank in supporting customers to transition to net zero emissions by 2050."
She says the first step is for businesses to understand why they need to be more sustainable; then they need to begin measuring their actual carbon emissions and understand where their biggest emissions are coming from.
Mapu says the sustainability credentials of businesses can also have an impact on their ability to attract and retain staff.
"People today not only want to buy from companies doing the right thing, but they want to work for them too and are demanding more of their employers in this space," she says.
For some organisations the majority of emissions come from sources it owns or controls (such as the manufacturing process) or from energy it directly purchases (fuel or power).
Indirect emissions include those produced from transportation provided by other businesses, such as freight. They also include emissions from products or services businesses use like material inputs into products, water supply or wastewater treatment.
(Ministry for Environment, MfE Guidance for Voluntary GHG Reporting).
"By gathering relevant data, businesses can establish an emissions baseline which helps measure and celebrate progress," Mapu says.
ANZ's Measuring your Emissions insights paper includes examples to show businesses how to get started. It includes making an inventory or a list of everything related to the operation that creates emissions, then setting a reporting period.
Emissions can be assessed by using tools like the Toitū carbon assess, which identifies the areas of operation that produce the most emissions. These can then be compared with industry sector averages and year-on-year results.
ANZ is supporting business customers in their sustainability ambitions with the ANZ Business Green Loan. It can be used to fund initiatives supporting energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable land and water use and the building, renovating or purchasing of green buildings."
The loan will also support agri-business customers looking to diversify and future-proof their operations.
"Many of our agri customers have invested in upgrading farming systems to preserve water quality and are now looking to how they can enhance biodiversity and considering carbon sequestration through planting," Mapu says."This loan supports those ambitions."
The bank is also supporting customers wanting to increase the energy efficiency of their home with the ANZ Good Energy Home Loan. The loan can also be used for electric and hybrid vehicles, and EV chargers.
"As with any investment, making your business more sustainable comes with a cost. We want to remove some of that cost barrier and, by doing so, help customers see the benefits sooner," Mapu says.
"We hope the ANZ Business Green Loan will help our businesses customers take these important steps forward, and make them stronger and more resilient in the future."
For more information visit ANZ Business Green Loan.
Offer subject to change. Eligibility and lending criteria, terms and conditions and fees apply.