On 17 March, BNP Paribas Fortis was presented with Ecodynamic Enterprise labels by Evelyne Huytebroeck, Brussels Minister for the Environment, Energy and Urban Regeneration, for the Chancellerie and Boreal buildings. The bank already received this label for its Botanic building in 2011.
The Brussels Capital Region awards this label to companies in recognition of their commitment to sustainability, as demonstrated in their buildings and equipment. The award reflects the steady progress that BNP Paribas Fortis has made with reducing its environmental footprint.
Below are some examples of the actions taken by the bank in the past few years, including at the three Brussels buildings that have been awarded the ecodynamic label.
- Introduction of a system for selective waste collection that has led to a dramatic reduction in residual waste.
- Each year around 70 tons of waste paper is collected from the Boreal, Chancellerie and Espace Rolin buildings in Brussels for local processing. This recycling concept produces considerable annual savings in water (177,990 litres), energy (9,672 KWh) and CO2 emissions (almost 7 tons).
- In May 2013 the bank promised EVA, the organisation behind the campaign to turn Thursday into Veggie Day in Belgium, that it would add to the vegetarian options on offer. Since then, employees are invited to eat a vegetarian dish at least once a week – a more balanced and environmentally friendly meal. Within a year, demand for vegetarian dishes in the company restaurants at BNP Paribas Fortis has increased from 6% to 12%. The target for 2014 is 20%.
- Since May 2013, customers who use PC banking as their platform for online banking can opt for electronic account statements in A4 format. By March 2014, 15% of them had already opted for this environmentally friendly alternative. This saves around 90 tons of paper a year. It is expected that 30% of customers will have switched to the electronic account statement (which remains retrievable for 10 years) by the end of 2013 (and 17% by the end of end 2014).
- The bank also expects its suppliers to meet several sustainability criteria, such as those concerning the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products.
- There are numerous other priorities: reducing energy use; producing and consuming renewable energy; using sustainable materials for building and renovation; cutting paper use drastically; limiting waste production; encouraging sorting of waste; reducing CO2 emissions, partly by encouraging sustainable mobility, conserving the environment and maintaining biodiversity, including by installing beehives on the roofs of several buildings.
In order to achieve its environmental objectives, the bank is organising awareness campaigns on a continuing basis. A network of more than 500 EcoCoaches are actively engaged in this. EcoCoaches are staff members who volunteer to encourage their colleagues to behave in a more environmentally friendly way.
These actions are in line with the objectives that the BNP Paribas Group has set, e.g. to reduce paper use by 15% by 2015 and CO2 emissions from transport and energy use by 10% per full time equivalent.