Climate Conscience Man Broke Up with ANZ over Dirty Money

Climate Conscience Man banked with ANZ for decades. Out of habit, mostly. He can’t even remember when their relationship started. But then he came across ANZ’s lending books and didn’t like what he saw. Dirty money. Hundreds of millions of dollars each year poured into fossil fuels. He didn’t want his savings doing night shift for the coal and gas industry. Following the money more deeply, he realised the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac were just as bad. Collectively, they invest tens of billions of dollars in fossil fuels.

So Climate Conscience Man decided to ditch the dirty money lenders. He did his homework and opened an account with Bank Australia. He shifted his regular payments, ran both accounts for a month or so to catch any stragglers, then ditched ANZ for good. He called them up and explained why: he didn’t want his money funding projects that heat the planet and trash Country.

Was it easy? Not exactly. Like doing your tax or any big admin job, it was a bit annoying upfront - lots of little details, a few “have I missed anything?” moments. But in the end only one payment got missed, and it was quickly fixed. The whole process turned out to be much less stressful than Climate Conscience Man had feared.

Two years on, he hasn’t looked back - and the relief is real. Climate Conscience Man knows he’s not supporting dirty money.

He did the same thing with his super. That was even easier. There's no wizardry - just a rule he can explain to his kids: if a holding makes him wince, it doesn’t belong in his retirement savings. Fossil fuels, deforestation, Israeli weapons systems: out. Clean energy, efficiency, housing, Nature restoration: more.

For Climate Conscience Man, it isn’t about purity. It’s about consistency. He rides his eBike, flies less, runs the house on sunshine - so why let his money quietly undo all of that?

How he actually switched (simple, not perfect)

• Open the new account first. Set salary deposit and card.

• Make a 30-minute switch list: mortgage, utilities, rates, insurance, streaming, donations.

• Run both for one billing cycle to catch the odd payment.

• Close the old account and tell them you left because you don't like dirty money.

• Review super: ask two plain questions - what do you exclude? and show your top holdings. If answers are foggy, move.

  
  

Climate Conscience Man knows his divestments won’t topple gas giants like Woodside or Santos by next Tuesday. But it’s also one of the cleanest levers a regular person like he can pull. And perhaps more importantly, it’s lined his life up with his values.

Climate Conscience Man didn’t want the most polluting thing about him to be his bank account. Moving it was a deep clean he should’ve done years ago. And easier than he thought.

Climate Conscience Man switching away from fossil-fuelled banks.