Active
This profile is actively maintainedActive
This profile is actively maintainedWebsite | http://www.commbank.com.au |
Headquarters |
11 Harbour Street
NSW 2000 Sydney
Australia
|
CEO/chair |
Matt Comyn CEO |
Supervisor | |
Ownership |
listed on Australian Securities Exchange
Commonwealth Bank's shareholder structure can be accessed here. |
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (commonly referred to as the CommBank), was founded in 1911 by the Australian government, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1991, and fully privatised in 1996. The Commonwealth Bank is on of the "big four" Australian banks. The bank has brands including BankWest, Colonial First State Investments, ASB Bank (New Zealand), Commonwealth Securities and Commonwealth Insurance.
Commonwealth Bank's most important sustainability commitments can be found at the website sections listed below
Commonwealth Bank is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of Commonwealth Bank's link to these deals.
Commonwealth Bank does not operate a complaints or grievances channel for individuals and communities that may be adversely affected by its finance. However, employees can make a complaint via the bank whistleblowing channel at corporateresponsibility@cba.com.au or speakup@speakuphotline.com.au whereas other stakeholders may raise complaints via the OECD National Contact Points (see OECD Watch guidance).
Commonwealth Bank is an Equator Principles signatory. While the Equator Principles have no official grievance mechanism, complaints relating to this bank's financing of Equator Principles projects can be filed through our own website www.equator-complaints.org.
In June 2023 Commonwealth Bank published a document outlining a grievance process for First Nations Stakeholders.
This page evaluates Commonwealth Bank's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".
Banks and Climate
The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Commonwealth Bank of Australia provided US$ 17.485 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Commonwealth Bank of Australia provided US$ 136 Million for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Commonwealth Bank of Australia fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Commonwealth Bank’s fossil fuel policy below.
Banks and Human Rights
BankTrack assessed Commonwealth Bank in its 2022 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 5 points out of 14 and was ranked as a follower. In addition, Commonwealth Bank scored 0 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the "Accountability" section of this profile.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
Banks and Nature
Commonwealth Bank’s policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 2.2 out of 10 and ranking it as a follower. Commonwealth Bank achieved a score of 0 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 2.2 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. Between 2016 and 2022, Commonwealth Bank provided USD 513 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors. For more information, see the links below.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Overall scores
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Beef
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Palm Oil
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Tracking the Net Zero Banking Alliance
Commonwealth Bank is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.
Banks and Steel
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that Commonwealth Bank of Australia provided US$ 2.2 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.
Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s metallurgical coal policy below.