A diverse group of NAB customers is adopting green technology solutions to accelerate their climate and sustainability transitions, as companies prepare for new climate-related disclosure requirements in the next few years.

Business banking customers such as Seavolt (electric-vessel charging), Four Seasons Waste (electric waste-management trucks) and Recycling Plastics Australia (plastics recycling) have all invested in a more sustainable future.

Growth in NAB’s Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment proposition was driven by companies’ ambition to improve their improve sustainability credentials and lower costs, according to NAB Executive Business Metro and Specialised Julie Rynski said.

“This group of three NAB customers is keeping pace with broader trends, as Australian businesses look to decarbonise and become more energy-efficient,” Ms Rynski said.

“Finance provided by NAB’s Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment proposition grew 33% by dollar value in the bank’s September financial year, with over 800 eligible assets financed.

“We expect demand for green-labelled financing propositions to remain buoyant as mandatory climate reporting against international sustainability standards is phased in according to a company’s size or level of emissions from January 1, 2025.”

The decarbonisation and sustainability challenges for the industries in which the three NAB customers operate are significant.

Recycling troublesome plastics, where Recycling Plastics Australia (RPA) is active, is a national priority.

While the use of recycled content is increasing, most packaging is still made from virgin materials and finite resources, with a lot of recyclable packaging sent to landfill where it causes significant environmental damage.

The transport sector, meanwhile, accounts for 20% of the nation’s carbon emissions, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Seavolt’s premise is that the electric vehicle boom on land will inevitably be replicated on the water with electric boats; it’s only a question of time.

Founder and chief executive Chris Cudlipp said that in 10 years it won’t be possible to import a new boat with an internal combustion engine because the manufacturers simply won’t be making them anymore.

To prepare for this “inevitable marine revolution”, a network of super-fast chargers was needed at marinas and waterfront locations around the country.

Seavolt has estimated there is a $5bn-plus market opportunity, based on the forecast electricity consumption of the nation’s 915,000 registered recreational boats ($2.18bn) and 12,269 commercial vessels ($3.17bn), including ferries.

The challenge for Seavolt is the electricity grid’s 66%-reliance on fossil fuels.

“Our reason for being is that is that there’s no point having an electric boat if you’re powering it with electricity made by burning coal, so we want to deliver 100% renewable electricity to all of our chargers,” Mr Cudlipp said.

“The first marina where we installed the chargers, The Quays on Sydney’s Pittwater, put solar panels on the roof and we now get electricity from them, but if that’s not possible at other sites we’ll supply our chargers with 100% green power or install our own solar micro-grid.

“There are 50,000 marina berths around Australia and in 10 years’ time every new boat that goes into a marina will be electric – we want Seavolt to be the leading provider of charging solutions for them.”

To that end, Seavolt recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the nation’s largest marina group, d’Albora, to roll out a charging network covering the eastern seaboard.

Mr Cudlipp said he was gratified to have secured a NAB Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment loan on a pre-revenue basis, given the capital intensity of the business and the objective to start “repowering and decarbonising Australia’s marine industry, from jetskis to container ships”.

On land, the waste management industry has also been a convert to electric power, lured by its instant torque, silent running and zero emissions.

In the past few months, Four Seasons Waste has successfully tendered for a five-year hard-waste collection contract with the Wyndham City Council on the western edge of Melbourne, as well as for the Macedon Ranges in regional Victoria.

The Wyndham contract will start in November, by which time the company will have taken delivery of five electric box trucks purchased with a NAB Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment loan.

Chief executive Nick Walsh said Four Seasons Waste has a fleet of 150 diesel-powered trucks collecting different streams of waste, including household wheelie bins, for 10 councils throughout Victoria.

“We’re going to run the (five electric trucks) in this particular contract first, and then in subsequent hard-waste contracts and other applications,” he said.

“We also have a 2030 target to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint for our office and depot facilities.”

The net zero target excludes emissions from the truck fleet because battery life must be lengthened to support relatively long collection runs in Australia’s low-density cities, in contrast to high-density centres like London and New York.

Plastic pollution is an acknowledged global problem, with the 2021 National Plastics Plan (NPP) estimating that 130,000 tonnes of plastic leaks into the marine environment every year in Australia alone.

The NPP aims to reduce plastic waste and increase recycling rates, find alternatives to the plastics we don’t need, and cut the amount of plastics harming the environment.

RPA was bought by a group of five private investors from the liquidator of the antecedent company in 2017.

The new owners focused on mixed rigid plastic, such as crates and laundry baskets discarded by residents, and new technology to optically sort the plastic waste which by then could no longer be shipped to China.

“We get 25,000-30,000 tonnes of product in a year of which we salvage 20,000 tonnes and the rest is waste, which is responsibly handled and turned into alternate fuels for the cement industry,” co-owner Peter Gregg said.

“The balance of 20,000 tonnes is then pelletised, which goes into the injection moulding industry.”

Mr Gregg said the so-called crisis in packaging, where a “take, make and dispose” approach leads to excessive landfill and pollution of the world’s waterways, amounted to a $6bn investment opportunity in Australia alone.

To avoid burning money, a sophisticated knowledge of the industry was required, along with access to significant capital and a “willingness to jump into the unknown”.

NAB, he said, had a deep understanding of the industry and had supported RPA from its inception, providing a NAB Green Finance for Vehicles and Equipment loan to import capital equipment from Europe.

RPA was now proceeding with the next stage of its investment program – elimination of 30-40% of the soft plastic recycling problem created by the collapse of REDcycle in late 2022.

The company recently secured $20m in grants offered by the Federal Government to eligible soft plastic ventures under the Recycling Modernisation Fund.

This grant will be matched with an additional $45m in equity and debt by RPA.

“Hopefully with the support of banks and maybe some third parties, the problem we are seeing can be resolved with a bit of time, capital and a lot of hard work,” Mr Gregg said.

The information contained in this article is based upon sources believed to be reliable but which have not been independently verified. Opinions or ideas expressed may not necessarily be those of National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) nor may they necessarily reflect NAB’s views or endorsement. This article is for informational purposes only.