CBA launches small business Sustainability Action Tool
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is launching a new tool designed to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to embed sustainability into their operations. CBA says it is the first Australian bank to offer a sustainability action tool to help small business customers improve environmental outcomes while enhancing performance and reducing costs. The CBA notes that its new Sustainability Action Tool provides insights into actions businesses can take to reduce their environmental impacts and lower costs, with new research showing that the cost of becoming sustainable (61 per cent), finding sustainable suppliers (30%) and a lack of time and resources (28 per cent) are the top pain points for SMEs seeking to embed sustainability into their business model. The CBA says its Sustainability Action Tool is designed to help small business customers identify sustainable choices for their processes and operations and provide them a selection of resources and actions based on their responses to a few simple questions. According to the bank, 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 General Manager Everyday Business Banking said: Its clear 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. 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 CBA says the Sustainability Action 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. 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, Kerryn Saward said. The first phase of the CommBank 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 CBAs recently launched Green Vehicle and Equipment Finance which supports businesses of all sizes to invest in assets to improve sustainability and boost productivity. Alongside this, the CBA says the Australian governments extension of the Instant Asset Write-Off scheme as part of Budget 2023, means small businesses with an annual turnover under $10 million can immediately deduct the full cost of eligible assets costing less than $20,000. The launch of the tool comes ahead of CommBank SmallBiz Week 2023 in Melbourne on 23-25 May, where business owners, government agencies and industry leaders will come together to explore critical issues affecting the sector, including sustainability.