Sustainability Report 2023
The cooperative ethos, where everyone benefits by working together, is ingrained in Rabobank’s DNA and is reflected in the approach we take to sustainability in New Zealand. We believe that by collaborating closely with our clients, we can help align commercial objectives with environmental practices, and support our clients to shift towards more sustainable and economically feasible production systems.
This report showcases Rabobank's sustainability objectives and achievements in 2023. It underscores our aim to align our activities with the social, economic, and environmental challenges while meeting the expectations of our clients, local communities, and our team.
We are helping to "Grow a Better New Zealand Together" by being 100% focused on our agricultural future.
Our commitment and what it means to Rabobank
What is 100%? It is being 100% focused on our farming future.
Let's reach your sustainability goals together
We’re supporting a transition to a resilient future by working alongside our clients to profitably transition to lower-carbon and more sustainable production systems.
We stand side by side with farmers and growers to manage increasing environmental, societal and market risk, and at the same time seizing opportunities to create inter-generational, resilient farming businesses.
As part of our focus on sustainability, we’ve developed a new approach to help farmers and growers build a detailed snapshot of the non-financial performance of their businesses – where they’re doing well and where there’s room to improve. This includes how our rural clients are faring with their agronomic, environmental, social and workplace performance.
We're also upskilling our staff to ensure meaningful discussions are had on-farm to support our clients with the sustainability aspects of their businesses
Meet our sustainability team
Blake Holgate
Head of Sustainable Business Development
Blake joined Rabobank in 2012 and was appointed as the Head of Sustainable Business Development in early 2021. In this role, he leads the Sustainable Business Development team which is focused on ensuring the bank’s clients are in the strongest position to manage increasing environmental, societal and market risk.
In addition to leading this team, Blake also contributes to Rabobank government policy submissions on regulations affecting the sector as well as providing public commentary on key industry issues. Hailing from a sheep and beef farming family, he has an MBA from Otago University and practised as an environmental lawyer specialising in resource management before joining Rabobank.
Katie Rodwell
Sustainability Manager
Katie joined Rabobank in June 2022 following eight years with Farmlands Co-operative Society, most recently as the Head of Sustainability and Land Use. In 2020 she was awarded the NZ Co- operative Emerging Leader of the Year award, and she was also a finalist for the 2022 Zanda McDonald Award.
In her role with Rabobank, Katie is responsible for providing our staff with the learning and development required to enable them to have meaningful sustainability discussions with clients, as well as the development and delivery of our client knowledge programmes.
Gavin Marshall
Sustainability Manager
Gavin joined Rabobank in August 2022 and brings 15 years’ experience in the agriculture sector, with the last six years spent as an Environmental Programme Lead at Fonterra. In that role, Gavin designed, developed and managed the implementation of programmes focused on supporting farmers to reduce their environmental footprint (primarily around freshwater and climate).
In his role with Rabobank, Gavin is responsible for further developing an online tool that builds a picture of the non-financial aspects of client operations, with the aim of advancing the insights this tool provides for our clients.
Working to reduce our carbon footprint
Last year, we became accredited with environmental and economic sustainability organisation Toitū, by participating in their CarbonReduce programme, which requires us to set SBTI aligned emission reduction targets.
A better carbon footprint is good for our team and our clients. We’re investigating many initiatives that will help us reach our goals. Some of our highlights so far:
- Introducing hybrid vehicles into our Vehicle Fleet
- Rolling out Meridian’s 100% Certified Renewable Energy program
- Reducing air travel emissions by 30% from 2019 to 2022
Rabobank is proud to support
