Green wins gold

Just four weeks from launch, the Westpac green home loan voucher booklets won the inaugural Sunday Star-Times/Cannex socially responsible bank product of the year award.

The programme is similar to that of a Westpac Australia initiative but tailored to the New Zealand market. The green home loan booklet contains eight deals and discounts on environmentally friendly products and services for the home. The booklet is designed to encourage Westpac home loan clients to adopt more environmentally responsible behaviours when renovating their property or moving into a new home – which could also save them money in the long run.

Westpac worked with the Ministry for the Environment, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust to narrow down which brands would be most appropriate. Resene was selected as the paint manufacturer with the 'greenest' offering through its commitment to sustainability initiatives, such as its long-term and extensive Environmental Choice range, its high ratio of waterborne sales compared to other manufacturers and its development of the Resene PaintWise paint and paint packaging recovery programme.

For Westpac, the green home loan booklet is just the tip of its commitment to sustainability. Westpac introduced bi-annual sustainability reporting in 2003, is soon to move into an eco-headquarters and is ranked number one in the Dow Jones sustainability index.

From the Resene News – issue 3/2007