Founding Partner: Colonial First State
Colonial First State CEO Brian Bissaker
Colonial First State and Sustainability
Colonial First State has taken decisive steps to demonstrate their dedication to the environment. Colonial First State has implemented better customer communications, smart office practices, and now provide their customers with options to invest in a climate safe future.
These actions are not only good for the environment, they are good for business, particularly in the case of Colonial First State and ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’.
See Colonial First State CEO Brian Bissaker explain in this video why involvement in sustainability programs like 'PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark' is good for business and the environment.
‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’
Working in partnership with Planet Ark since 2007, Colonial First State have been encouraging customers to opt out of receiving paper communications in favour of electronic mail. Since its launch, more than 170,000 - an impressive 1 in 5 – of Colonial First State investors have switched over from snail mail to ‘paper-free investing’ with ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’.
Through the program, Colonial First State and their participating customers have saved an amount equivalent to 90 tonnes of paper. Examples of paper savings achieved through electronic receipt of the following investor communications are shown below as A4 sheet equivalents.
- iQ magazine: 4,655,520
- Annual reports: 5,408,312
- Corporate Super Kits: 4,700,000
- Statements: 2,718,144
This data was entered into the Environmental Defense Fund paper Calculator. By removing 90 tonnes of paper from circulation, Colonial First State have saved:
- 1,620 trees,
- the equivalent of 871,560 kWh of power,
- 303,570 kg of greenhouse gases (CO2e), and
- 6,101,370 litres of water.
The estimated savings are the equivalent of:
- The power consumption of 59 Australian households for a year
- The emissions from 84 cars removed from our roads for a year
- The water used to fill 92 large domestic swimming pools
To help promote this behaviour change, Colonial First State donated $2 to Planet Ark for each customer who made the switch to paper-free investing. This has resulted in over $340,000 being donated to Planet Ark for its environmental education campaigns, including official commencement of the ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’ campaign.
In addition to environmental savings and benefits to Planet Ark, participation in ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’, along with their other sustainability initiatives, has allowed Colonial First State to become more financially efficient by reducing operational costs by over $4 million each year.
This shows that ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’ is a simple and effective way for businesses and their customers to harvest the benefits of a positive, environmental behaviour change.