Westfund – ESG and Sustainability Strategy
We worked with Westfund, an Australian member owned and community-focused health insurance provider to develop an ESG Strategy.
The strategy was developed so that Westfund could better serve the needs of their members and other stakeholders as well as respond to increasing legislative requirements including mandatory climate disclosures from the Australian government.
Client: Westfund
Project: ESG and Sustainability Strategy
Year: 2024-2025
Who was the client?
Westfund is an Australian regionally-based, not-for-profit health fund mutual.
Originally founded by miners in Lithgow, New South Wales, over its 140 year history, Westfund has grown to serve over 140,000 members and maintains a strong commitment to regional communities, operating 12 Care Centres and multiple eye and dental clinics across regional NSW and Queensland.
Westfund aims to make healthcare affordable, taking a community-focused approach and does great work in reinvesting profits for their members and back into the communities that they serve.
What did we do?
Rather than starting from scratch, the strategy deliberately builds on Westfund’s strong heritage as a mutual with deep regional and community roots. We helped Westfund recognise, organise, and amplify the ESG value of existing initiatives, such as community grants, regional care centres, health equity research, and employee wellbeing, bringing them together under a single, coherent narrative.
A key step was undertaking a materiality assessment as part of the strategy development. The purpose of this assessment was to help plan and frame the ESG strategy, narrowing down the list of applicable ESG topics and getting a better understanding of priorities both from the perspective of Westfund and its stakeholders as well as the impact of Westfund on society and the environment.
This information was then used into developing Westfund’s ESG Strategy including a roadmap with plans and programmes from 2025 – 2030.
How did we deliver value?
Watts Sustainability supported Westfund to move from a collection of strong but largely unconnected social and community initiatives to a clear, board level ESG strategy that protects long-term member value, strengthens regulatory readiness, and reinforces Westfund’s purpose as a trusted, member-owned health insurer.
Clear roadmaps, actions, and timeframes provide a practical pathway from strategy to delivery, enabling ESG to be embedded into decision-making rather than sitting alongside it.
A key area of value was supporting Westfund to understand and prepare for upcoming Australian mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requirements. We translated complex regulatory expectations into a clear, phased implementation plan covering governance, climate risk and opportunity assessment, emissions measurement, and reporting.
This gave the board and executive team confidence that Westfund can respond proportionately and credibly to future regulatory requirements, while avoiding unnecessary cost or over-engineering.
What our clients say?
Peter and the team have been a trusted partner in our sustainability journey, from materiality and climate scenario analysis through to roadmap, helping us focus on what matters most to our members, communities and stakeholders and turning it into a practical, actionable strategy.
