bank mecu - responsible banking

Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals in a given area. Biodiversity is often used to assess the health of a given ecosystem - the more diverse the biology of a given area, the healthier it is. Diversity allows for adaptability, which is becoming increasingly important with climate change. When land is cleared to build a new home, there is a biodiversity loss. That is, flora (plant life) and fauna (animals) are cleared to make way for the new home.

bankmecu's Conservation Landbank will help bankmecu offset the loss of biodiversity resulting from new homes financed by bank mecu. For example, if a customer purchases a block of land at 650sq/m, the equivalent amount of land is allocated for protection and/or revegetation in bankmecu's Conservation Landbank. Furthermore, it is the aim of bankmecu to purchase properties for inclusion in the Conservation Landbank that will contribute to a conservation corridor, to enable migration of species as the climate changes.

bankmecu introduced the provision of a biodiversity offset for new home construction loans on 1 December 2008. The total land available in bankmecu's Conservation Landbank equates to 2,010,000 sq/m (at 30 June 2009).