A Green Bank

• Caring For the Environment
• Green Knowledge and Learning
• Green Community Programmes
• Biodiversity

Caring For the Environment

Protection of the natural environment should be of concern to everyone. We are working to reduce the negative environmental impacts of our business, increase our participation in activities that have beneficial effects, and be a positive influence on the environmental practices of our stakeholders. We also contribute to broader initiatives by supporting green groups such as The Conservancy Association, Friends of the Earth (HK) and WWF Hong Kong.

Established in 2003, our Environmental Management Committee implements and monitors our environmental management system, particularly compliance with ISO 14001 requirements. In 2005, we became the first local financial institution in Hong Kong to attain ISO 14001 accreditation, which now covers 90 per cent of our office premises.

Our ‘Go Green’ environmental programme received a Silver Award at the 2008 China Golden Awards for Excellence in Public Relations. We have been carbon neutral since 2007.

We continue with efforts to reduce the consumption of resources by raising awareness, replacing less efficient systems with more efficient ones, reusing items whenever it is possible and making efforts to recycle when it is not.

In 2008, we replaced the air-cooled chillers in our headquarters building's air-conditioning system with water-cooled ones. This will cut our electricity consumption by about 1.9 million kWh per year, resulting in an annual saving of HK$2.4 million in energy costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,700 tons.

We have achieved recycling rates of 90 per cent for toner and printer ink cartridges and 98 per cent for obsolete computer equipment.

Over 216,000 e-Banking customers have chosen to receive electronic rather than paper statements under our e-Statement service, and more than 43,000 have opted to receive electronic investment advice under e-InvestAdvice. These electronic document initiatives are saving over 10 million sheets of paper a year.

Green Knowledge and Learning

We promote green messages through internal communication channels and conservation-focused activities for staff and their families.

In 2008, we organised two seminars for staff and contractors on climate change and low-carbon living, arranged a two-day green camp for employees and their families, and supported WWF Hong Kong’s ‘Walk for Nature @ Mai Po’ .

The Bank is also a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project, which provides a forum for the world’s largest institutional investors to collectively consider the business implications of climate change. We signed the Carbon Reduction Charter initiated by the Environmental Protection Department to become the Green Partner of their Carbon Audit campaign.

We are a gold member of the Climate Change Business Forum, established by the Business Environment Council, and have signed the Clean Air Charter initiated by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Business Coalition on the Environment.

Green Community Programmes

For the second consecutive year, we helped protect the environment while improving lives on the Mainland by sponsoring The Conservancy Association’s biogas energy project. In December, Bank volunteers travelled to a village in Yunnan province to help build 300 biogas toilets that will provide about 1,200 villagers with renewable energy. In addition to reducing annual firewood needs and carbon dioxide emissions by 750 tons and 3,750 tons respectively, the project will also help slow the pace of soil erosion resulting from deforestation and produce a residue that can be used as a natural fertiliser. Our involvement in this project has been recognised as a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) corporate citizenship commitment at the 2008 CGI Asia meeting held in Hong Kong.

We also partnered with The Conservancy Association to hold a ‘Tree Lovers Day’ at Kowloon Park in November. Attended by over 2,000 people, the event was designed to explain the importance of tree conservation to the public.

Organised with the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Hang Seng Pearl River Delta Environmental Awards recognise manufacturing companies in southern China that are taking steps to enhance their environmental performance. Last year, the Awards attracted 113 entries covering 339 projects. The implementation of energy conservation projects by various companies has helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 25,000 tons, while the execution of water management projects has helped save over 1.5 million cubic metres of water - enough to fill 617 standard 50m swimming pools.

We supported the Eco-Explorer programme, organised by Friends of the Earth (HK), which offers school-age children the opportunity to investigate the environment through on-site observation. We are also helping raise environmental awareness through a series of initiatives at nine Hong Kong tertiary education institutions under our HK$14 million ‘Hang Seng – Green Bank’ programme. Activities under the programme include eco-leaders training, environmental conservation workshops and the introduction of recycling bins at various on-campus locations.

We also supported Friends of the Earth’s ‘Lights Out’ Campaign in June.

Biodiversity

We engage with environmental organisations and our suppliers to help conserve biodiversity through sustainable sourcing. We stopped serving shark’s fin at Hang Seng functions in 2003 and have since extended this ban to include endangered reef species and black moss. We comply with the guidelines set out in WWF Hong Kong’s Seafood Guide

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