The Australian banking and property sectors are setting an example for the rest of the country with the way they have made positive steps toward a greener future, it has been revealed.
In the past few years, nations the world across have been setting themselves targets for cutting emissions, but the Aussie government has come in for some heavy criticism for its lack of involvement with this, with a target to lower emissions by just 26 to 28 per cent by the end of 2030.
However, two industries are performing admirably in this sense, and ABC reports that the property and banking sectors are now actually leading the world with their moves to low carbon polluting measures.
An example given of this was at the National Australia Bank's (NAB) head office in Melbourne, where there has been the biggest lighting refit seen in the nation at any time. Some 40,000 bulbs have been switched from the traditional style to greener LED alternatives, cutting the energy use at the facility by as much as 60 per cent, according to NAB head of environmental sustainability Nicola Murphy.
In the property sector, a focus on green building has meant that there have been many positive moves made in the last few years to have more 'green properties' built. There are now almost 1,000 so-called green buildings around Australia according to ABC, which shows how the industry's focus has started to pay off in recent times.
Romilly Madew from the Green Building Council said reducing emissions became a boardroom issue around 2007. "You had a number of elements together — the Al Gore campaign, the Stern Review and the Lowy Institute put out reviews on how the community were viewing climate change," she said.
"The community was taking climate change seriously — business had to step up and think of what it meant for them."
