Leaving Westpac

This article is to share the news that I'll be leaving Westpac in early July.

From the time I became Stockland ’s first sustainability leader in 2005, what motivated me immediately was the opportunity to create and scale impact within the property sector.

When I took up my next role, leading sustainability at Westpac, what appealed to me then was doing that same thing, and at a larger scale – creating impact and positive change through finance across sectors, across the economy and across the operations of Westpac in Australia and the Pacific. I was fortunate to be building upon the pioneering sustainability work of others.

Now, after eleven years at Westpac – most recently as the Bank’s first Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) – and having achieved much that I know we can be proud of, I feel I have done the best of what I can do in this role.

From July I will be seeking out new challenges and opportunities for me to continue to lead and scale impact across the economy, and across Australia, and globally.?

So, what have we got done?

Over the past year at Westpac the team has got a lot done. Together we’ve

• refreshed our climate change and human rights position statements,?
• established a natural capital position statement,?
• launched a sustainable finance framework and taxonomy,
• delivered substantive sustainability training for our bankers and our board, and?
• published our updated sustainability strategy out to 2030.?

With the final sector target underway, we've almost completed our baseline net-zero requirements. All this recent progress is testament to members of the sustainability team I have led, and increasingly the many sustainability and ESG professionals across the Westpac Group.

At one of our most difficult times, in 2019, I am grateful that I was backed to establish the Safer Children, Safer Communities program – a human rights remedy response to Westpac's AUSTRAC matter. We've supported organisations in the Philippines to tackle online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), and those delivering programs and data-related initiatives to improve the safeguarding of children here in Australia, with some of this work assisting law enforcement agencies bring OSEC perpetrators to justice.

The past few years have seen other achievements too. We have distributed sustainability actions and responsibilities from Group Sustainability to the lines of business and functions across the organisation, driving greater accountability and integration and be closer to customers.? Sustainability disclosures are now led by finance, community and Foundations are with?corporate affairs, Indigenous engagement is a function of? human resources, and net-zero target-setting resides with the customer-facing divisions. Centrally, we’ve strengthened ESG risk and control frameworks, bring greater focus to what we say, is what we do.

And I’m so I'm pleased to provide this position as the starting point for the second CSO of Westpac, and those that follow after.?

So, it's now for that next CSO to:

• Drive even deeper integration of sustainability in the business, and through to bankers working with customers
• Support the operationalisation of targets and committed actions
• Work with line leaders across the organisation to help bankers grow their capability, aided by new tools, better data and the creation of sustainability-linked products
• Continue to engage with the senior leadership team, to raise capability and awareness of fast-evolving sustainability matters at the strategic level.??

And supporting customers is critical too. The Bank will go on helping them with:

• their own transition to net zero;
• to reduce risks of social harm; and
• to find ways to protect, restore and work with nature.

While the challenges we all face are profound, I remain optimistic. Optimism and resilience are centrally important capabilities of a sustainability leader, and I’m glad to have brought mine to the challenges of Westpac. I remain excited by how business, civil society and governments can act together to tackle problems, and find new opportunities to create future value and impact.

With my time at Westpac coming to a close, so too will my participation as Westpac’s representative on the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Banking Board and the Net Zero Banking Alliance's (NZBA) governing Steering Group.?

So, when above I say globally, I’m thinking of the wonderful experiences of the past seven years working with UNEP FI, as a co-chair of the Banking Board, and more recently as a member of the NZBA Steering Group.

For an Australian this has meant countless calls in the middle of the night, but I have treasured my time working with and learning from banks around the world, backed by the dedicated UNEP FI secretariat teams, creating the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRBs), and shaping the NZBA – both now supported by half the world's banks. In addition, the PRBs engage with an impressive Civil Society Advisory Body providing frank feedback, encouraging banks to do better and go further on the issues that matter most. I'm especially excited to see the PRBs evolve, with the refresh program known as PRB2030 setting out specific focus areas of financial inclusion, climate, nature and human rights – with an ambition for impact in each of these areas – a demonstration of how far we've come in the five years since launch.

So, I'll finish up over the next few weeks, supporting my team, UNEP FI's Banking Board and NZBA Steering Group with the transitions in leadership over this time.

And at this time of change for me, I consider myself so fortunate to next week be returning to? 欧洲工商管理学院 (INSEAD) to complete the Transition Leadership program. It’s come at a pivotal time for me, and I have only deep gratitude to the Chief Executive Women (CEW) Scholarship Program. I'm committed to honouring this investment in my leadership development to find fresh and ambitious ways for me to create and scale impact –?for climate, nature and human rights.

Finally, thank you to all those I have worked with over the last decade or so at Westpac. The challenges of sustainability are never easy, but progress is?rewarding for us all. It’s proven to me that a bank's actions can have an extraordinary ripple effect across the economy.

So keep going.