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Finder Green Awards 2020
Recognising Australia's greenest industry leaders.
About the Finder Green Awards
The Finder Green Awards are held every year to highlight the companies leading the way on sustainability in the sectors that we compare. The inaugural Finder Green Awards were held on 1 April 2020. Here are our 2020 winners across energy, insurance, banking, travel, shopping, superannuation and telecommunications industries. This is one of the broadest sustainability awards programs in Australia.
You've probably seen its billboards and true to its word, Bank Australia is leading the way on sustainability when it comes to banking in Australia. With exemplary standards on sustainable financing and stand-out climate-friendly products like its carbon-neutral car loans and clean energy home loan, Bank Australia rose to the top against some stiff competition.
Throughout the submission, it was clear that QBE is a major insurance business taking its sustainability efforts very seriously. It scored particularly highly for sourcing more than 60% of its electricity from renewable sources, as well as committing to numerous external benchmarks such as CDP and DJSI.
The team were impressed by Brighte as a high-growth Australian business making affordable financing arrangements possible for Australians looking to improve their homes. Brighte's focus on climate-friendly lending stood it in particularly good stead and to date, 93% of its loans have financed solar panels and home batteries in Australia.
This was a tight contest but Australian Ethical stood out in the assessment process for its low direct environmental footprint alongside impressive targets to take this to the next level. This was matched by a strong focus to reduce the emissions associated with the investments the fund made.
Belong became an instant front-runner in this category by becoming the first telco in Australia to be certified as carbon-neutral by the Government Climate-Active program. These efforts were backed up by impressive targets as part of the broader Telstra sustainability plan and the best customer equipment recycling efforts by any of the companies that entered.
Energy Locals came out on top in a tough contest in this one. Its efforts in promoting clean technology is what set it apart in the end. In particular, Energy Locals is leading the way on demand management through its partnership with Amber and is also taking an innovative approach to energy storage as a key player in the South Australia virtual power plant.
Powershop rose to the top in this category thanks to a combination of its zero emissions electricity generation, its carbon-neutral plans for all customers and its innovative efforts to support clean technology in various ways.
Seed & Sprout stood out for its extremely low emissions figures driven by a headquarters powered by solar panels. We were also impressed that all of its packaging is recyclable whilst the whole website exists to sell sustainable, reusable products.
Finalists:
The ICONIC
Ecostainable
Travel and Transport Awards 2020
Green Hotel of the Year
Swell Lodge – Christmas Island
In another highly contested category, Swell Lodge rose to the top for its low emissions, high renewable energy usage and zero-waste approach. From its outpost on Christmas Island, Swell Lodge also showed some innovative customer facing sustainability initiatives such as water-free lavatories, crab-safe vehicles and free reusable water bottles for all visitors.
In another very competitive category, Air New Zealand edged ahead primarily due to its lower emissions figures per passenger kilometre and per million dollars of revenue.
The judges were blown away by Katherine's passion, which has seen her deliver a high-growth service that's been adopted by more than 40,000 Australians in just 3 years. Katherine makes green living accessible and affordable for everyday Australians – the 8,881% growth rate of the past 3 years is testament to her commitment and laser-sharp focus.
Finalists:
Dr Kaushik Sridhar (National Sustainability Manager, Regis Aged Care)
Lloyd's passion and tenacity has led to real impact in terms of reducing shopping centre landfill. In a short period of time he has had proven success and made a strong impression on a number of stakeholders.
Finalists:
Damien Gould (Founder, Goodtel)
Diarmaid O'Mordha (Quality and Sustainability Manager, Endeavour Drinks)
Not only is the Future Super team changing the way Australians think about their super investments, but it also led an initiative that united so many other Australian businesses with its #notbusinessasusual campaign. This campaign really encouraged businesses to support their employees who felt passionately about striking for climate change action.
Winners were selected based on broad environmental metrics including greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy usage and waste avoiding landfill, while criteria for the people-based categories was based on key achievements and impact. Details on each category can be found in the methodology below.
The Finder Green Awards recognise sustainable companies in a range of categories we compare, to help you find companies doing their bit to protect the planet.
Which Australian banks are really doing their bit for the environment? Find out with the Finder Green Awards.
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Money and Insurance Awards 2020
Money and Insurance Awards 2020
