Woombye & Districts Community Enterprises Pty Ltd, operates the Woombye & Districts Community Bank®, a branch of Bendigo Bank. Here are the steps this organisation has taken towards sustainability:
- In 2011, we formalised our efforts and established a new set of standards with the launch of our Statement of Commitment to the environment. We have committed to consider the environment in all relevant business decisions and to measure and report our progress.
- We are committed to purchasing more than 85 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources.
- The Bank’s major headquarters, in Bendigo (Vic) and Adelaide (SA) are five-star Green Star buildings. Adelaide uses about half the energy of a typical office building and features energy efficient measures including underfloor air-conditioning and a central atrium to encourage natural light. The Bendigo Centre was the first five-star Green Star building in regional Australia and boasts a water treatment plant that recycles 20,000 litres of waste water per day and solar panels to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy.
- We were major sponsor of Earth Hour in 2014 and we are the major sponsor of Cool Australia, a program educating Australian children about sustainability.
- In 2002, we launched Australia’s first ‘green loans’ – lower-cost loans for sustainable housing or home improvements such as water tanks, double glazing, solar energy and the like.
- Our Generation Green™ program helps our customers to reduce their environmental impact. The program now boasts 8,000 subscribers who receive our top tips on topics like green renovations, saving energy and water efficient gardening.
- As part of Generation Green™, the bank has launched the Switch to Save and Ban the Bulb programs, and together these energy saving initiatives are cutting millions of dollars from the power bills of customers and communities across the country.
- The Bank is a consortium member of the $42 million Central Victoria Solar City project aimed at developing sustainable energy security.
- As we do not currently lend to projects in the coal and coal seam gas sectors, we are taking a pragmatic approach that says it makes no sense to broaden our footprint by starting to do so.
Sustainability is a work in progress for our bank and we will continue to implement positive actions to reduce our impact on the environment and help others to do the same.