There’s nothing better than being paid for a job you love to do – except maybe when that job involves helping make this world a better place!

We spoke with Suzie Marsden, Westpac’s Head of Corporate Responsibility to find out what it’s like and what it means to be paid to be an actual actionista!

1: What does your job involve? 
Developing and driving the implementation of our sustainability strategies. My role covers environmental sustainability and community involvement. It is a fantastic job - I get to work with people all the way through our company from the property management and sourcing teams through to our front line staff, as well as a huge array of external groups like Sir Peter Blake Trust, government departments, environmental scientists etc…

2: Why is sustainability so important to Westpac – you are a bank after all!
It is a good question because we are not exactly a huge emitter of CO2. Westpac aspires to be a global leader in sustainability because we really believe it is good business to behave sustainably. There is still a lot of talk and not much action in this space so we need to lead by example. As a bank we play an important role in the community - Westpac employs over 5000 New Zealanders, has over 1 million active customers and branches in most small towns in New Zealand. As such we are in a strong position to influence our staff, suppliers and customers to live more sustainably.

3: Tell us about the fleet upgrade – what motivated this change?
It is all very well to try and influence your staff, customers and suppliers, but it is pointless if you are not leading by example. We have been measuring our carbon emissions since 2003 and are implementing a reduction programme. Changing the car fleet is one of the steps in that programme and that alone reduces our footprint by 6% on our 2007 baseline.  

4: Can you further explain the Green Home vouchers? What is it? What does it involve?
Our green home voucher book is an initiative we launched in 2006 pulling together eight special offers to make your house more eco friendly - things like discount on Resene's paint and Pink Batts. Any Westpac customers with their own home can take advantage of these offers.

5: What inspired this idea? 
Our desire to do our bit.

6: How is it going so far?
It is going OK. In my opinion, not enough of our customers know about it. It is on our website but perhaps they don't understand it that well. We are just in the process of revamping the initiative so watch this space! 
 
7: Westpac has been named the number one bank for sustainability for five of the last six years – what are the key reasons you believe are behind this?
The Dow Jones Sustainability Index ranks the 2,500 largest companies on the Dow Jones Global Index, with the top 10% making it onto the Sustainability Index. Through our process of submitting information on our sustainability practices to Dow Jones we get feedback on the areas where we are demonstrating best practice globally. Westpac has been recognised as a leader in its management practices, environmental performance and reporting, attracting and retaining talented staff and public advocacy on social issues.

8: Which sustainability initiatives are you most proud of and why?
I'm really proud of our Managing Your Money programme. The lack of financial education and increasing consumer indebtedness is a really big problem for New Zealanders. Right now it is even harder with rising food, fuel, energy and mortgage costs.

We offer a free two hour workshop to community groups, or run them in branches. The workshop covers things like how to budget, the pros and cons of credit cards, store cards, hire purchase etc, saving for retirement and Kiwisaver among other things. We have also created a shorter version of the workshop on our website alongside our budget calculator and other tips to help you manage your money better. Click here to check them out.

And we have Ritchie McCaw as our ambassador for the programme so that has to be good doesn't it?! So far over 800 people have attended our free two hour workshop and over 2,000 people have used the online tutorial since we launched it in March this year.

9: How else would you like to make a positive difference?
I'd feel really chuffed if I could inspire even just 10% of our staff to make changes in their lives and live more sustainably. Or perhaps all our staff to make a 10% change. I really believe in the snowball effect of incremental change.

Ramarea

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