Co-leading the way: How financial services can partner with customers and communities for a sustainable future 

Leaders cannot deliver sustainability from the boardroom alone. For financial services organisations, success depends on engaging customers and communities as genuine partners. This requires making complex issues relatable, shifting towards power sharing, and rethinking how inclusion and trust are built over time. 

At our recent gathering for financial services leaders, one of the central questions we explored was how organisations can bring customers and communities along on the sustainability journey in a way that resonates and makes good business sense. The discussion made clear that bold leadership means meeting people where they are, listening deeply, and creating pathways that empower rather than prescribe. 

For many customers, the language of sustainability and climate risk can feel abstract or overwhelming.  

“When you start talking to people about climate or sustainability risks, sometimes their eyes glaze over very quickly — it’s complex and nuanced,” said Brooke Pettit, Head of ESG and Sustainability at Bendigo Bank.  

“I worked on my first climate-related disclosure eight years ago, and at the time I remember feeling uncertain. One thing I’m passionate about now is making things clear and providing the right information so people can make informed choices.” 

Ms Pettit explained that the challenge is to translate sustainability into everyday language and experiences. 

Farmers may not want to talk about climate change, but they are willing to talk about seasonal variability, energy efficiency, or how to electrify their homes. Customers may not engage with ESG acronyms, but they will respond to products that help them save money, reduce bills, or build resilience. 

In other words, the entry point matters. Relating sustainability to weather, housing, or energy use makes the conversation real. From there, financial services firms can build trust and expand understanding. 

At Nous, our experience has highlighted a core tension at the heart of this challenge — to what extent do you lead your customers towards more sustainable products and practices or follow? Getting this balance right is critical and often requires a nuanced approach that layers information sharing, direct engagement and innovative products and partnerships. For example, we worked with a bank to help them strengthen partnerships focused on home energy efficiency so they could offer their customers reliable, trusted information that supported innovative sustainability linked projects. 

Leaders must emphasise the importance of a grassroots approach that respects people’s lived realities. In agriculture, for instance, customers are currently at very different points on the journey. Some farmers measure emissions with sophistication, while others resist framing their work in terms of sustainability. A successful strategy recognises both as valid starting points. 

“It’s super important to bring people along the journey with you,” said Ms Pettit. “That means putting yourself in the shoes of your customers, understanding how they frame issues, and meeting them there.” 

Rather than assuming technical knowledge, leaders must first listen and then tailor initiatives that customers can genuinely engage with. Central to this challenge are the customer facing roles that must feel confident and equipped to engage customers on sustainability issues in their language. Leaders must also engage authentically with their communities, particularly First Nations communities, Nous Principal and First Nations lead Rodney Williams said. Without this, organisations may impose sustainability efforts instead of co-creating them. 

“We will only succeed if we embrace power sharing,” said Mr Williams. “This means two-way, shared governance and embracing First Nations values and governance. It’s not about replacing what we already have, but about evolving it.” 

The contrast between mainstream financial institutions and Indigenous institutions illustrates the point. Traditional banks may view risk in terms of pricing and creditworthiness, while Indigenous institutions take a longer-term, community-first perspective that factors in resilience and inclusion. Both approaches have merit, but genuine power sharing requires financial services to broaden their lens. 

In our work with First Nations communities, Nous has seen firsthand how sustainable partnerships emerge. Three lessons stand out: 

1. Get out onto Country. Building trust may involve getting out of your comfort zone, sitting around fire with communities, listening without agenda, and understanding their day-to-day realities. Financial inclusion in a First Nations context is not the same as in mainstream contexts. It extends to access to essentials such as food, housing, and insurance.
2. Support change agents. Influential members of every community create change for themselves, their families, and wider networks. Identifying and empowering these people is one of the most effective levers for progress.
3. Move at the speed of trust. Trust-building varies by individual and context. For some communities, it may take weeks. For others, it may take years. Past experiences with governments and large institutions, and the history of dispossession, oppression, and power-imbalances, necessarily shape this pace, and financial services leaders must respect it. 

The panel stressed that shared accountability is integral in these efforts. When institutions and communities co-design initiatives, they must also co-own both risks and outcomes. 

At the same time, the financial services sector has much to learn from First Nations communities, many of which are already leading transformational sustainability initiatives. Community-owned hydro schemes and traditional burning programs — now integral to Australia’s carbon market — show that sustainability is not a new concept for First Nations peoples but a practice deeply rooted in culture and Country. 

“Sustainability isn’t even a word in First Nations communities,” said Williams. “It simply is. You cannot be the world’s oldest continuing culture without it being part of your being and practice. Too often, we view these communities through a deficit or charity lens. But sustainability is part of us, and we think in generations. It's our strength.” 

Financial services has much to learn here. Adopting a 50 or even 100-year perspective challenges organisations to move beyond short-term cycles and align their efforts with intergenerational stewardship.  

The path forward for financial services leaders is clear but challenging. Leaders must engage customers and communities by starting from lived experience: sustainability only becomes meaningful when it is framed through everyday concerns — energy bills, weather patterns, local livelihoods — rather than abstract concepts.  

That means meeting people where they are, resisting one-size-fits-all prescriptions, and designing pathways that reflect different starting points and priorities. It also requires a fundamental shift toward power sharing, particularly with First Nations communities, so that decision-making and governance are truly two-way and communities help shape the outcomes that affect them. At the same time, institutions must embed shared accountability, distribute risks and benefits fairly, and co-own responsibility instead of outsourcing it. 

Central to all of this is humility: the financial services sector needs to be willing to learn from the communities they serve, particularly First Nations ones, whose perspectives on stewardship and intergenerational thinking can help the sector reframe success in terms of legacy as much as immediate returns. 

Bold leadership in sustainability will not come from imposing frameworks: it will come from co-creation with customers and communities, recognising their expertise and agency, and being prepared to share power. 

Get in touch to discuss how your organisation can play a role in the push towards sustainability. 

Connect with Carlos Blanco and Rodney Wiliams on LinkedIn. 

Thank you to Brook Pettit for sharing her knowledge and experiences, along with all participants in our September roundtable, to progress a financial services sector that enables thriving individuals and communities.