NAB is the top-ranked Australian financial institution in the 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies Index, announced overnight at the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, Switzerland.
The Index, compiled annually by Corporate Knights, ranks more than 8000 companies on clean revenues and investments that generate positive social or environmental impacts. NAB ranked fourth globally amongst financial peers and 44th across all industries in the world.
NAB's ranking reflects the work being done to reach its sustainability targets, including purchasing renewable energy to meet the electricity needs of over 600 branches by the end of 2021, completing A$70 billion in environmental financing by 2025 and committing $2 billion to affordable and social housing.
NAB Group Executive, Corporate & Institutional Banking, David Gall said this achievement recognises the bank's focus on working together with our customers and communities to improve social and environmental outcomes.
"This ranking is testament to our many passionate colleagues and customers who together drive financial innovation around sustainability," Mr Gall said.
"Funding sustainable projects is an important role NAB plays in the community, and particularly to support the transition to net zero emissions."
"It's about making decisions for the long term to future-proof business models, but also to serve our customers well and to help communities prosper."
NAB is an inaugural signatory of the United Nations' (UN) Principles for Responsible Banking, which requires it to implement a program of work over four years encompassing impact and target setting; clients and customers; stakeholders; governance and culture; and transparency and accountability.
It is also the only Australian bank that has signed the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative's Collective Commitment to Climate Action, working towards aligning business operations and lending portfolios to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
More detail is included in NAB's 2020 Sustainability Report here.
For full rankings of the Corporate Knights 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies Index and methodology details, please click here.
- Corporate Knights Inc. includes the sustainable-business magazine Corporate Knights and a research division that produces rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance.
- The Global 100 is an annual project initiated by Corporate Knights, the company for clean capitalism. Launched in 2005, the Global 100 is announced annually on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. For 2021, over 8000 companies were analysed against global industry peers, on up 24 key performance indicators.
