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How to resolve AdBlock issue? ANZ faces shareholder resolutions on nature risk at AGM on Thursday
ANZ BANK’s board will face the bank’s first shareholder resolutions on financing deforestation at its annual meeting in Sydney on Thursday.
The resolutions – facilitated by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and co-filed by Sustainable Investment Exchange (SIX) and more than 100 shareholders – call on ANZ to assess and disclose how much it lends to customers involved in deforestation and set a strategy to stop financing it.
Last week NAB shareholders, owning $9.74 billion of shares, supported a resolution calling on NAB to disclose deforestation linked to that bank’s lending.
“ANZ is at a very early stage in understanding deforestation risk,” ACF head of corporate advocacy, Jolene George said.
“While many banks are monitoring deforestation, ANZ is yet to undertake mapping or demonstrate it has the capabilities to check whether or not customers are engaged in deforestation. 
“We urge ANZ to assess its exposure and invest in internal capability to identify and monitor nature-related risk.”
According to ACF, legal opinion by Sebastian Hartford-Davis and Zoe Bush in 2023 concluded failure on the part of company directors to identify, manage and disclose material nature-related risks may lead to them being found in breach of their duties of care and diligence.
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