hen people think of banks, environmental
sustainability is not the first thing that
comes to mind. But one bank in hong
kong wants to change that and, so far, it
is seeing some success.
hang Seng Bank is leading the way with
its bold and daring eco initiatives. The
company was concerned with how its operations impacted
the environment, which, in turn, affected its relationship with
clients, customers and the wider community. In January 2003,
it established an environmental management system with a
specially appointed committee to oversee it.
One of the first policies it launched was the “hang Seng
go green Staff Awareness” campaign, to encourage
employees to strive for continual improvement in environmental
performance and help raise awareness. In 2006, after
studying its infrastructure and business processes, the bank
implemented policies to reduce resource consumption.
Initiatives taken include upgrading its headquarter’s building
management system and installing energy-saving light bulbs
in all bank-owned public areas around the building. These
two energy efficiency programmes reduced the company’s
annual electricity consumption by about four per cent, saving
approximately hk$550,000.
As part of its plan to encourage the adoption of recycled or
environmentally responsible materials, it set up a system
for paper, plastic and aluminium can recycling. Additionally,
efforts were made to find a new home for equipment that it
could no longer use. In 2006, the bank donated over 2,300
pieces of serviceable IT hardware and related accessories
to the Caritas – hong kong Computer Recycle Project. It green building materials such as low-VOC (Volatile Organic
also recycled about 11,000 toner cartridges, a year-on-year Compounds) adhesives were used.
increase of 32 per cent. And it looks like the bank’s efforts
have paid off because it was named “The green Enterprise of For installing its carpets, hang Seng Bank decided to go with
the Year” in 2006 for sound environmental practices by the InterfaceFLOR’s TacTiles
®
, making it the first company in the
Federation of hong kong Industries. region to use it for its entire flooring. TacTiles has a carbon
footprint that is 90 per cent lower than traditional
Unsurprisingly, when the bank was designing its new office installation methods, and it can be recycled. Plus,
premises at Enterprise Square Five, it made eco-sustainability TacTiles has virtually no VOCs, which means indoor air quality is
a key imperative in its overall vision. The brief to the interior not affected during installation.
design team was to provide a safe, comfortable, efficient and
environment-friendly workplace. As greenhouse gas emissions is one of the criteria for measuring
the company’s environmental performance, the use of TacTiles
In terms of eco-sustainable features, energy-saving products in its new office space is crucial to its overall eco strategy. Bit by
and technologies, like T5 fluorescent tube lamps and variable bit, hang Seng is changing the way it does business and leading
speed drives for fans, were incorporated. Wherever possible, the industry in its efforts. Not bad indeed for a bank.
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