ANZ, Boral grapple with net zero as Bowen tries to end climate wars
Australia's biggest annual gathering of climate heavyweights took place in Sydney this week. There was one clear takeaway from the event.
Australia's biggest annual gathering of climate heavyweights from the business community, the public sector and parliamentary politics took place in Sydney this week. And if there was one key takeaway from the event, it was that setting a net zero target is easy. Making it a reality is going to be much harder.
Companies ranging from ANZ to Boral and Aware Super shed light on how the transition to net zero is affecting their operations, Climate minister Chris Bowen took steps he hopes will end the climate wars, and the government's energy transition tsar Greg Combet spoke about how the race to net zero will require the kind of investment typically seen following an actual war.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott told the Australian Emissions Reduction Summit this week that the big four bank was increasingly willing to walk away from companies who lack credible net zero plans, and it had already refused finance to at least six major companies in emissions-intensive sectors with clear stranded asset risks.
“We identify our 100 largest-emitting customers. Our biggest footprint is through our customers. We require all of them to have a well-funded, credible transition plan towards net zero. And we interrogate that. We look leaders in the eye and ask if they are really committed, or are we just getting the talk? And is it a credible plan? And we have exited customers where we don’t believe they have passed the test.”
