Sustainability

Sustainability to us is about helping New Zealanders be good with money, working with our communities, and preserving our planet for the future.

We focus on two areas of sustainability

Protecting our environment

We recognise our impact on the environment and actively make changes in the way we work to reduce our carbon footprint. This includes making sure we manage our supply chain so it reflects our own values of sustainability.

Supporting our communities

We work with our customers and local communities to help them be good with money and reach their full potential. We also strive to make sure our own workforce represents the diverse communities we live in. See how we're supporting our communities.

Doing our bit to protect the environment

Sustainable buildings

Our three main buildings have a 5-star environmental rating. We use features that minimise water usage, and use smart metering and a facilities monitoring system to reduce electricity usage.

TRAVEL

We only travel when it’s necessary, and use video and phone conferencing where possible. We also encourage our staff to use public transport or bike to work to reduce emissions.

RECYCLING

We recycle everything we can, especially our day-to-day waste. We reuse our office furniture and strive to work in a paperless way. We also report on our waste so we know how we’re tracking.

OUR GREEN TEAM

Our internal Green Team, consisting of over 300 staff members, advocate our environmentally-friendly initiatives across our BNZ locations. 

Making a difference

Carbon neutral 

We were the first bank to become carbon neutral, and have been since September 2010. We offset any emissions we can’t avoid by purchasing carbon offsets locally. 

Fairtrade

We've been New Zealand's largest Fairtrade accredited workplace since 2010. Our tea, coffee and sugar is Fairtrade certified, so farmers in developing countries receive a fair price.

Going the extra mile

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PROTECTING OUR KAURI FORESTS

Together with the Kauri 2000 Trust, we launched the BNZ Kauri Bond Issue scheme. For every Kauri bond issue we arrange, we aim to plant 100 kauri seedlings.

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SAVING TREES BY GOING DIGITAL

Eighty-nine percent of transactions are made in Internet Banking or our mobile banking app. With more customers using our digital products, we're using less paper and saving more trees.

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SUPPORTING GLOBAL INITIATIVES

We support international initiatives such as the Equator Principles, the United Nations Environment Programme, and we’ve been a signatory to the Natural Capital Declaration.

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Environmental targets

We've set ourselves environmental targets across a range of areas including waste, energy use, and paper, which we will be monitoring and tracking out to 2020.

Working with our suppliers

We prefer to do business with suppliers that hold similar values to us. As part of the NAB Group, we are committed to our Supplier Sustainability Programme, which aims to mitigate sustainability risks and outlines our expectations for suppliers. 

For more information, read the NAB Group’s Supplier Sustainability Principles PDF 226KB and NAB Group's Procurement Policy PDF 188KB.

How can we help?

If you have an idea for how BNZ could do more, or would like to hear more about our work with the community and the environment, please get in touch.

Email us

See how we’re doing

Sustainability is something we’ve been committed to for some time, and something we’re always striving to improve. You can see how we’re tracking each year through NAB's Dig Deeper report.