CBA unveils sustainability action tool for SMEs

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will launch a new tool to help SMEs embed sustainability into their operations.

This new sustainability action tool will give SMEs an understanding of how they can reduce their environmental impacts and lower costs.

According to the big four bank, the CBA sustainability action tool is designed to help small business customers identify sustainable choices for their processes and operations and provide them with a selection of resources and actions based on their responses to a few simple questions.

The tool will initially focus on energy, transport, and waste management and will be expanded in the coming months to include information on other sustainability topics such as supply chain management, product design and wellbeing.

Kerryn Saward, CBA executive said small business owners have a strong interest in sustainability and are already implementing sustainable practices in their business.

“This is reinforced by our own data which shows small businesses continue to prioritise sustainability, with financing of electric vehicles for small businesses doubling year on year,” she said.

“However small business owners are time poor and looking for more tangible and practical sustainability solutions that can be incorporated in their businesses easily, with minimal effort and time.

“They also want to be empowered with information and knowledge that can lead them in the right direction to aligning themselves with the right businesses.”

The tool will enable small business owners to identify simple changes they can make today as well as larger-scale work, that could have both a big impact on the environment and reduce business costs.

Saward said, “This can include conducting an energy audit with your energy provider, switching to new and improved technology like cloud computing services, and learning about ways to reduce or dispose of hard-to-recycle waste.”

The first phase of the CBA sustainability action tool will be rolled out in May to all NetBank users with ongoing new content to be added from July.

The launch of the tool follows CBA’s recently launched Green Vehicle and Equipment Finance which supports businesses of all sizes to invest in assets to improve sustainability and boost productivity.