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Finder Green Awards 2021
Recognising leads in sustainability across different industries in Australia.
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 2021 Finder Green Awards were held on 2 June 2021. Here are the winners across energy, insurance, banking, telco, travel, and shopping industries.
Bank Australia is doing all the right things with 100% renewable electricity, low emissions intensity and ambitious targets. It was its approach to climate-positive lending that gave it the real edge though, with a relatively high proportion of its loan book going to green causes.
The eInvest Better Future Fund scored well for its proactive approach to identifying sustainable investments which went beyond just screening out investments that could be damaging the environment. This means the fund will only invest in companies that are generating more than 50% of their revenue from business operations that proactively contribute to creating a sustainable future. The fund also scored well for its financial returns in the last 12 months.
Finalists:
BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders (ASX:ETHI)
VanEck Vectors MSCI International Sustainable Equity (ASX:ESGI)
This is a back-to-back win for QBE that showed once again it's committed to taking action on the climate crisis. QBE scored particularly well for its high renewable energy usage, impressive environmental targets and its commitment to considering climate risks in its investment and risk decisions.
Brighte has gone from strength to strength in the last 12 months with hugely impressive growth and a continued commitment to sustainability. It scored particularly well for the climate-friendliness of its loan book with the vast majority of the loans the company writes still being for planet-friendly solutions like residential solar panels and energy storage.
This is a back-to-back win for the team at Australian Ethical Super. Its submission impressed us with a robust sustainability screening approach for all investments, an impressive record of shareholder action and a high proportion of its portfolio coming from climate-friendly investments.
Goodtel was a finalist in our Green Rising Star category last year and has gone from strength to strength during the judging period. Its low emissions intensity, organisational carbon-neutrality and an innovative donation model were what helped Goodtel take the win in this category.
Belong has really led the way in the telco space when it comes to sustainability. Its carbon neutrality for both the organisation and its products is a key differentiator in a competitive category. Belong also scored well for its ambitious targets and equipment recycling program.
Energy Locals is another back-to-back winner and stood out again with an impressive entry. It took the win here by virtue of offering carbon-neutral plans to all customers, a number of innovative energy storage initiatives and low emissions intensity as an organisation.
Powershop once again showed why it tops the leaderboards when it comes to green energy in Australia. Zero emissions electricity generation, carbon-neutral plans for all customers and innovative efforts to support clean technology helped Powershop differentiate itself.
Powershop continues to show sustainability leadership in the energy space in Australia, and again, its large-scale zero emissions electricity generation, carbon-neutral plans for all customers and low-cost GreenPower pricing made it the clear winner in this category.
Citizen Wolf scored well across the board and it was clear that sustainability is central to the way the Sydney-based T-shirt business operates. It really stood out for its commitment to the circular economy, renewable energy usage and going beyond carbon neutrality by offsetting its emissions by 5 times.
Seed & Sprout was commended for its extremely low emissions, high renewable energy usage and commitment to only selling planet-friendly products. This brand is also doing a marvellous job of making sustainability Instagram-friendly which is so important in today's world.
Finalists:
Kester Black
Onya
Green Supermarket of the Year
Woolworths
This was one of the tightest contests of the whole Awards but in the end, Woolworths was crowned the winner thanks to its Science Based Targets initiative approved Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions targets, its strong commitment to external benchmarks and its innovative customer and supplier facing sustainability initiatives.
The IONIQ stood out thanks to its low fuel lifecycle emissions and low energy usage per kilometre driven. It is also competitively priced and well reviewed which gave it the edge over some of the other energy efficient electric vehicles we reviewed.
Swell Lodge rose to the top once again to win back-to-back titles in this category for its low emissions, high renewable energy usage and zero-waste approach. From its outpost on Christmas Island, Swell Lodge also showed some great customer-facing sustainability initiatives such as water-free toilets, crab-safe vehicles and free reusable water bottles for all visitors.
Uber has committed to sustainability across the globe with impressive reporting, environmental performance and ambitious targets. Its $800 million "Green Future Program" aimed at helping thousands of drivers transition to electric vehicles is one innovation that helped set it apart.
This is Katherine's second win in this category. Katherine is the CEO of Brighte, the Finder Green Lender of the Year 2021, which more than doubled its loan book in 2020 leading to over 200 gigawatt hours of new clean energy generation assets across over 21,000 new solar installations. She also steered the business through its biggest funding round to date and continues to be a shining light for female-led businesses in the fintech sector.
Finalists:
Mitch Taylor (Founder and CEO, Koala)
Paul Briggs (Sustainability and Project Coordinator, Schwartz Family Company)
Vanessa Cullen (CEO, Forward Thinking Design)
Green Rising Star of the Year
Emilie O'Neill (eInvest)
At just 28 years old, Emilie is second in charge for managing the high-performing and environmentally-friendly eInvest Better Future Fund that won our Green ETF of the Year award. She set herself apart in this category thanks to her commitment to finding the sweet spot between financial returns and environmental impact, both internally at eInvest and externally through her shareholder engagement and media work.
Finalists:
Lottie Dalziel (Founder, Banish)
Nicoletta Koutalianos and Stephanie Luong (Co-founders, Rooted)
This is the first Finder Green Award win for ING whose sustainable initiatives highlight the role that banks have in financing sustainable change in our economy. Its commitment to supporting projects that align to the Paris Agreement goals set ING apart in this category. It is also a testament to its work in 2020 of financing projects to create enough energy to power 400,000 homes with clean energy.
Sendle shone in this category by showing that there is a greener way to get deliveries from A to B by launching Australia's first fleet of solar powered electric delivery vehicles. Parcel delivery is a growing industry as we saw during COVID-19 in particular and is only going to get bigger. This innovation has the potential to save huge amounts of CO2 from entering our atmosphere.
All relevant companies are encouraged to enter the awards and winners are selected each year based on broad and sector-specific environmental metrics. These include greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy usage and waste avoiding landfill.
More details on the metrics we review for each category can be found in the methodology below.
The Finder Green Report found environmental concern has decreased slightly over the past year, largely due to greenwashing and the cost of living crisis.
Which Australian banks are really doing their bit for the environment? Find out with the Finder Green Awards.
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