Sustainability
We’re taking action for our planet.
Sustainability
We’re taking action for our planet.
Banking on a better world
Everyone deserves a healthy environment wherever they live and work. If we want to protect the planet, we know now is the time to act.
At Suncorp Bank, we want to play our part to deliver a sustainable approach to banking. We are looking at our business inside and out, from the products and services we provide to how we operate behind the scenes.
In 2019, we became the first non-major Australian bank to become a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB). This United Nations initiative aims to help the banking industry progress towards achieving the UN's Sustainability Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
Our journey to net-zero
In 2022, Suncorp Bank set a benchmark across the banking industry. Under the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard, we became the first Australian financial institution to be certified carbon neutral for both our operations and personal deposit transaction accounts.
Getting certified means we’re on the right track, but real progress is made through action. By taking steps every day to actively reduce our climate impact.
Reaching net zero is a journey and we’re committed to accelerating the reduction of our greenhouse gas emissions. Here’s what we’re aiming for:
100% renewable electricity across our operations by 2025
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Reducing our Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to net-zero by 2030.
Case study: Achieving carbon neutrality with carbon farming
[Voice over]
Out the back of Bourke. It’s a popular Australian phrase, used to describe anywhere remote, isolated and hard to reach. But for Peter Ponder and his family, it’s home.
[Peter Ponder]
We’re about 220 kilometres west of Bourke. The property Emaroo is about 125,000 acres. We farm sheep. Merino Sheep and cattle. We’ve been here since 1988.
[Voice over]
Three years ago, they decided to make a change.
[Peter Ponder]
The drought that we went through, up until about the end of '17. We sort of realised that we needed some other diverse income from something and carbon was it.
[Voice over]
In partnership with Greencollar, Peter began farming carbon, along with sheep and cattle. Increasing the native vegetation across the property, to capture and store CO2.
[Louise Nott]
Human induced regeneration is a method under the emissions reduction fund, whereby landholders are incentivised to make a land management change.
[Voice over]
Such as improved fencing, to eliminate the feral animals that feed on native plants.
[Louise Nott]
It's all about managing your grazing pressures whether that be from domestic livestock. Making sure that you are actually rotating them and resting periods. So that could be rotational grazing around from one paddock to the other, allowing that native pasture to actually come back, regenerate, so that there's more available feed on the ground.
[Voice over]
Reduced grazing pressure benefits young trees and shrubs as well. Regenerating into a native forest. Monitored and measured by Greencollar, they calculate the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere, and sell credits to companies like Suncorp Bank.
[Amanda Lee]
This is our way of demonstrating that we are doing good now and we are able to remove the emissions from the atmosphere that we are putting in there through operating our business. And I think that is such an important part of banking you can feel good about. We want our customers to feel good about the bank they choose everyday.
[Voice over]
Customers like Jim Strachan, who has also become a carbon farmer.
[Jim Stachan]
Suncorp Bank have been great for us. I mean we have had a wonderful relationship with them for a lot of years. During the droughts in particular when times were tight, they supported us.
[Voice over]
A situation Jim hopes to have future-proofed, by diversifying his income.
[Jim Stachan]
We've now developed waters, put in fencing, new sheds, new equipment, and cashflow and the consistency of cashflow from the carbon farming has allowed us to do that.
[Voice over]
Seven years into the project, high above his 19,000 hectare property Lakemere, it’s clear to see the benefits of carbon farming, aren’t just financial.
[Jim Stachan]
We’re half environmentalists anyway. If we don’t look after the land, it doesn’t look after us. And this works hand in hand.
[Peter Ponder]
It makes a great difference having the forestation on the land.
[Voice over]
And creates certainty for the next generation, like Peter’s daughter Hannah and his grandson James.
[Hannah Mooring]
My father and I were mustering cattle the other day and the regeneration of trees and things that I don’t remember seeing. The country has really had the opportunity to take off and put down a lot of seed into the seed bank for the future as well. We’re not replacing the rainforests out here. We don’t have rain forests here. We have what we have and I think we’re doing what we can with what we have.
[Voice over]
To create a brighter future.
[Hannah Mooring]
James, if he wants to be a famer and he wants to farm out here, we want to give the country to him better than what we had it, I think everyone wants that.
Our journey to net zero involves fostering sustainable practices across our business. An example of this is how we counterbalance the environmental impact of our activities through carbon offsetting.
This is possible because of people like Peter Ponder and Jim Strachan. Peter and Jim are carbon farmers who help regenerate rural habitats and remove carbon from the atmosphere. With this type of land management, they can calculate the amount of carbon removed and sell carbon credits to companies like Suncorp Bank.
This approach allows us to account for our emissions and contribute to a more sustainable future. Learn the story of carbon farmers like Peter Ponder and Jim Strachan and how they’re future-proofing their farms.
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Our customers can also take action
We stand by our customers every step of the way, offering products and services that can help them take positive steps towards helping the environment.
For example, our Carbon Insights Account can help inform our customers about their estimated carbon emissions on eligible transactions made with the account.1
We’ve also made our bank cards better. Suncorp Bank Visa Debit and EFTPOS cards are made from 82% recycled material and designed with unique features to assist customers with visual impairments.
[Interviewer off-camera]
Excuse me, can I ask you a question?
[Cafe customer]
Yeah.
[Interviewer off-camera]
Do you know the size of your personal carbon footprint?
[Cafe customer]
No, I don't. I’ve never really thought about it.
[Nick Fernando]
We all have a carbon footprint. Whether it's driving a car, charging our phone or even having a morning cup of coffee, the everyday choices we make contribute to the size of our carbon footprint. It's the same for how we spend our money.
The Carbon Insights Account is a carbon neutral, fee-free online transaction account that lets our customers view their estimated carbon emissions in the Suncorp Bank app. The estimate is calculated by multiplying the amount spent by the average carbon emissions produced by that industry. As the first Australian financial institution to be certified carbon neutral for both operations and personal deposit transaction accounts, Suncorp Bank wants to create a brighter future for our customers’ world and for the world. We are committed to partnering with customers who care about sustainability because with more information at our fingertips, we have the choice to make more thoughtful decisions about what we buy, which feels good.
Learn more about our impact
Things you should know
1 The carbon emissions data provided is an estimate only and calculated using data provided by Cogo (a third party provider) relating to industry averages of carbon emissions per dollar spent based on merchant types (Industry Data). Calculations are based on averages only and are not specific to each item purchased at individual merchants and do not reflect individual merchants sustainability practices. The estimated monthly emissions amount is calculated by progressively adding together the estimated emissions of each eligible transaction for the particular month.
