CorporateResponsibility.Net

First Direct last week became the first bank to be awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after reducing its carbon emissions by more than 14 per cent since 2007, saving 1,500 tonnes of CO2 a year.

The Carbon Trust Standard requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint while delivering year-on-year cuts in emissions over a three-year period.

It is designed to reward companies that have made efforts to reduce their carbon emissions and will also improve their position in environmental league tables to be published as part of the upcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), a cap-and-trade scheme for UK businesses that spend more than £1m a year on electricity. Read more

Source: Business Green

South Korea is planning a $38 billion investment in what it’s calling its Green New Deals, an effort to boost jobs and the economy, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Green New Deals is made up of 36 projects which include bicycle tracks, high-speed railways, building 2 million energy-efficient homes, producing energy from garbage, cleaning four major rivers and building dams, banks and water-treatment plants to reduce environmental risks.

The four-year investment would create about 960,000 new jobs for the country, which saw its unemployment rate go from 3 percent to 3.1 percent between October and November last year. Read more

Source: GreenBiz

The China Banking Association has formally released its Chinese Banking Industry 2007 Social Responsibility Report, which is claimed to be the first of its kind for the mainland’s banking industry.

According to the report which was compiled by 51 Chinese banks, all of which are members of CBA, by the end of 2007, the total assets of China’s financial institutions had reached CNY52.6 trillion, an increase of 19.7% compared to the previous year. The total debt of the industry was CNY4.96 billion, up 18.8%. The report said that China’s financial institutions had all made dramatic achievements in capital adequacy rates, asset quality and risk management while expanding their scale of operations. Read more

Source: WBCSD

As nations around the world prepare to cap carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, more financial institutions are beginning to weigh the risks of lending money to big carbon emitters.

Yesterday, Bank of America posted a new, overdue coal policy on its website announcing it will phase out financing of mountaintop removal coal mining!

And five major international banks announced their intention to begin applying what they call “The Climate Principles” to the decision-making process for loans. Read more

Source: Sustainable Business

OAKLAND, Calif. — Companies that produce goods and services aimed at battling climate change generated $300 billion in annual revenues, surpassing the biotech and software sectors combined, according to HSBC.

The bank clearly identified companies within the sector last year and formally launched its HSBC Climate Change Index in September 2007. There were 300 companies in the index at the time, compared to 390 today with an average value of $4.8 billion.

In its first year, the index grew as a percentage of global market capitalization to 4 percent from 2.5 percent. Read more

Source: Green Biz

The public demand for stories about the caring, sharing side of investment bankers is unlikely to be huge right now, writes Adam Jones in the Financial Times.

“But bankers aren’t necessarily the only turn-off in ‘caring capitalism’ ventures these days. I’ve been wondering for a while whether tougher economic conditions will lead to a broader backlash against the CSR industry on the grounds of cost.” Read more

Source: Financial Times

Anticipating the release by the Royal Bank of Scotland of its 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report, a coalition of NGOs are criticising the bank for funding fossil fuel developments in various parts of the world.

RBS’ report isn’t published until Friday (11 June), but Friends of the Earth Scotland, People & Planet, Platform, BankTrack and Scottish Education and Action for Development have already taken the bank to task for ploughing an estimated $6bn (£3bn) into oil companies and “heavily contested fossil fuel projects”.

The NGOs expect the report to focus on the bank’s $2-4bn loans to renewables projects, but says its investments in fossil fuel projects negate any claims the bank makes about its environmental stance. Read more

Source: Business Green

ANZ bank has said that it will not provide project financing for a controversial pulp mill project in Tasmania. The company had been due to provide AUD 2bn towards the Bell Bay Pulp Mill.

The retreat comes in the face of controversy over the project’s environmental impact, expected to include the destruction of native forests, pollution impacts on local marine life, and disruption to tourism, fisheries and agriculture.

The Mill had achieved support from the federal government and the Tasmania state government. ANZ pleaded client confidentiality in declining to discuss the decision to pull support. However, the company recently launched its policy to not support projects involving the logging of high value conservation areas.

Source: Mallenbaker.net

687,000 tons of paper could be saved each year if every U.S. household stopped receiving paper bills and statements, according to a Javelin Strategy & Research report. That’s enough to circle the Earth 239 times.

Although most consumers expressed an interest in adopting green banking behaviors, three out of four consumers surveyed say they still receive paper statements.

Customers are more loyal to financial institutions that do so. By a 6-to-1 margin (see chart above), consumers said they are likely to do business with financial institutions they perceive to be green (48% vs. 8% of consumers who would be unlikely to do so).

Banks must offer tangible, compelling ‘green’ options and make them as simple as screwing in a CFL bulb, a Javelin analyst says.

Findings in the green banking report:

* Three out of four consumers receive paper statements.
* 34% of consumers said they switched to electronic statements to reduce their impact on the environment.
* 43% of consumers said they are more likely to do business with companies they perceive to be green.
* One out of five consumers (22%) said green initiatives cement the bond they have with their bank.
* 60% of “green bankers,” or consumers who say environmental impact is “extremely important” in purchasing and banking decisions, are women.
* 64% of “skeptics,” or consumers who say they are “very less likely” to be more loyal to their bank because of its environmental activities, are men.

By 2011, Forrester expects online banking adoption to grow by 55%, to roughly 72 million households. In 2011, 76 percent of online households will bank online.

Washington Mutual recently donated $1M The National Arbor Day Foundation for the one million customers it switched to paperless statements.

Source: EnvironmentalLeader.com

At the third annual Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards in London this week, Brazilian bank Banco Real took home two of the top prizes: the top Sustainable Emerging Markets Bank and the overall Sustainable Bank of the Year. The awards are given to banks and other financial institutions that demonstrate both leadership and innovation in incorporating triple-bottom-line considerations into their operations.

Banco Real was honored for its broad commitment to sustainability in financing. In addition to adopting development strategies like microcredit loans, the company also includes consulting services intended to guide customers in ways to use their finances to achieve both sustainability and financial goals. In a statement released about the award, the company said, “Even though it is difficult to objectively prove the relationship between sustainability and financial results, our results have improved year after year, and our performance has strengthened the bond with our clients and other stakeholders.”

Judges for the awards, which included the Financial Times’ business editor as well as leaders of financial advisory, responsible investment and sustainable development organizations, said of Banco Real’s practices: “This is a bank that goes beyond all of the sustainable business principles (UNEP-FI, Global Compact, Equator) and applies sustainability practices across every aspect of its business.”

Two new awards were also presented at the event, a one-day gathering addressing the theme, “How Sustainable is Sustainable Banking when the Bottom Line is Under Threat?”. The award for Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid was given to Bangladesh’s ASA Bank, which currently provides microfinance services to nearly 7 million residents of that country. Another new prize, for Sustainable Investor of the Year, was awarded to E+Co, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that invests in clean energy businesses around the globe.

Finally, the award for Sustainable Deal of the Year was given to a partnership project between Swiss investment firm BlueOrchard Finance and Morgan Stanley for the “BlueOrchard Loans for Development” program, which took microfinance to a new level by bringing together a wide international base of investors, swapping currencies into local denominations and distributed to 11 developing countries around the world.

Source: GreenBiz.com