##{"id":96881,"date":"2021-10-04T10:33:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T23:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/?p=96881"},"modified":"2021-10-04T10:33:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-03T23:33:58","slug":"esg-focus-asx-heavyweights-showcase-esg-credentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/04\/esg-focus-asx-heavyweights-showcase-esg-credentials\/","title":{"rendered":"ESG Focus: ASX Heavyweights Showcase ESG Credentials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>FNArena&#039;s dedicated&nbsp;ESG Focus news section zooms in on matters Environmental, Social &amp; Governance (ESG) that are increasingly guiding investors preferences and decisions globally. For more news updates, past and future:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/financial-news\/daily-financial-news\/category\/esg-focus\/\">https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/financial-news\/daily-financial-news\/category\/esg-focus\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><u><strong>ASX Heavyweights Showcase ESG Credentials<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Some of the ASX&rsquo;s large cap, household companies are demonstrating commitment to environmental, social and governance concerns through strategy integration.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>-Big businesses are increasingly expected to show transparency around ESG measures<br \/>-Incorporation of ESG as a key strategic priority is becoming more common for businesses<br \/>-Westpac, ANZ and BHP have all provided updates on ESG progress and additional measures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">By Danielle Austin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Corporate Australia is becoming increasingly transparent about its adherence to environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures in response to mounting expectations from customers and shareholders.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Recently Westpac ((WBC)), ANZ Bank ((ANZ)) and BHP Group ((BHP)) all provided updates on progress meeting ESG-aligned targets and how ongoing company strategy is integrating ESG measures.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Both banks demonstrated a commitment to a range of ESG measures, highlighting work done to encourage women in leadership roles and a range of climate targets. ANZ Bank also raised particular concerns around rising household debt. BHP, meanwhile, offered a large focus on environmental concerns.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">A common thread throughout company updates was the undertaking of a holistic approach, particularly in achieving environmental targets. The companies outlined how leveraging influence and resources and working with other businesses, or supporting customers, would help to achieve targets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive maxwidth\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/Environmental%2C%20Social%20%26%20Governance\/Ecological-concept-of-greenhouse%20gas.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><u>Westpac<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Westpac already has a track record of work in the environmental space, but announced an elevation of climate change to a key strategic priority for the company. The bank reiterated its sustainable financing commitment, offering sustainability-linked loans to support customer transition to a low carbon future. Other actions discussed included:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">-Exiting all thermal coal exposure in their lending portfolio by 2030<br \/>-Supporting existing oil and gas sector clients with transition pathways<br \/>-Only lending to new oil and gas sector clients that have Paris-aligned goals<br \/>-Reducing the carbon intensity of its electricity generation exposure by -28% by 2030<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">In the social and governance spaces, the company is committed to taking key steps to achieve 50% women in leadership and improve female retention with pay equity and improved parental leave policies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Additionally, the bank acknowledged work to be done in enhancing cultural diversity and indigenous representation, particularly in leadership.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><u>ANZ Bank<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">ANZ Bank focused on outlining how incorporating ESG measure into its strategy would create additional value for both customers and shareholders.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">To demonstrate its commitment, the bank&rsquo;s update focused on sustainable finance and financial wellbeing, including positive impact on household debt, and the identification of risk categories within the ESG space including biodiversity, cyber-scamming and economic disparity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The company highlighted it had beat its women in leadership target for FY21, with women accounting for around 34.8% of leadership roles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Addressing climate risk, ANZ outlined goals that included:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">-Encouraging bank customers to identify climate risk and opportunity<br \/>-Supporting the electrification of transport supply chains<br \/>-Financing energy efficient buildings<br \/>-Providing support to transitioning industries and helping customers develop transition plans<br \/>-Reducing emissions produced by bank operations<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><u>BHP<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Emission reduction targets were already a part of BHP Group&rsquo;s story, but the company has determined that strategy and capital decisions going forward will integrate climate scenarios. BHP also plans to develop biodiversity strategies and FY30 targets aligned with biological diversity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Already committed to reducing operational emissions -30% on FY20 levels by 2030, BHP&rsquo;s latest update has Australia&rsquo;s largest company on track to meet targets. In the shorter term the company expects to maintain operational emissions in the current financial year at, or below, FY17 levels.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The company also announced an update to its emissions reduction investment, increasing total cost commitment to US$1bn by 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Its greenhouse gas emission targets include reductions in scope 1 emissions (direct emissions, or emissions created as a direct result of company activity), scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions, or emissions generated through the purchase of energy such as electricity), and scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions linked to the business&rsquo; operational chain, such as those generated by transportation and distribution).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">BHP also estimated a US$2-4bn spend on steel carbonisation by 2030, working with key partners to decrease scope 3 emissions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Further actions to achieve climate targets include:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">-A migration to renewables and move away from diesel fuel use<br \/>-Achieving 50% renewable electricity in Queensland coal and up to 50% renewable electricity at Nickel West<br \/>-Development of zero greenhouse gas emission haul trucks<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>FNArena&#039;s dedicated&nbsp;ESG Focus news section zooms in on matters Environmental, Social &amp; Governance (ESG) that are increasingly guiding investors preferences and decisions globally. For more news updates, past and future:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/financial-news\/daily-financial-news\/category\/esg-focus\/\">https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/financial-news\/daily-financial-news\/category\/esg-focus\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>Find out why FNArena subscribers like the service so much: &quot;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index4.cfm?type=dsp_newsitem&amp;n=29EB960D-9DFF-C00E-7F6B464E5D52E250\">Your Feedback (Thank You)<\/a>&quot; &#8211; Warning this story contains unashamedly positive feedback on the service provided.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>FNArena&nbsp;is proud about its track record and past achievements: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/03\/rudis-view-ten-years-on-the-world-is-still-turning\/\">Ten Years On<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the ASX&#8217;s large cap, household companies are demonstrating commitment to environmental, social and governance concerns through strategy integration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}