Our Environmental Management Committee reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer, who is also the Bank’s Green Champion. The Committee meets quarterly and includes representatives from all major divisions and departments of the Bank. It is responsible for implementing and monitoring our environmental management system, particularly compliance with ISO 14001 requirements at our head office and Hang Seng Tower in Kowloon Bay.

Our environmental objectives in 2006 included reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, further raising environmental awareness among staff, and encouraging waste recycling.

Our objectives in these areas have been well achieved.

Last year, our year-on-year greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide) decreased by 4.2 per cent, freshwater consumption decreased by 22.7 per cent and the number of serviceable IT hardware and related accessories donated to charities increased by 7.5 per cent.

Initiatives taken in 2006 also included the upgrading of the Bank’s headquarters building management system and the installation of energy-saving light bulbs in the footbridges around our headquarters that are managed by the Bank. These energy efficiency programmes will reduce our annual electricity consumption by 4 per cent, saving approximately HK$550,000. We also implemented seawater flushing at our headquarters building.

Launched in 2003, our ‘HANG SENG Go Green Staff Awareness Campaign’ encourages employees to strive for continual improvement in environmental performance and helps raise awareness through various staff communication channels.

We continually monitor our use of resources and encourage the adoption of recycled or environmentally responsible materials. We have an established recycling system and make efforts to find a new home for equipment and materials that we can no longer use. In 2006, we donated over 2,300 pieces of serviceable IT hardware and related accessories to the Caritas - Hong Kong Computer Recycle Project. We also recycled about 11,000 toner cartridges, a year-on-year increase of 32 per cent.

In January 2006, we launched a campaign to encourage customers and shareholders to reduce their consumption of paper resources. We pledged to plant one tree for every shareholder who elected to receive Hang Seng shareholder communication materials in electronic format and for every 10 Hang Seng Personal e-Banking customers who switched from paper to electronic statements under our e-Statement service, up to a total of 10,000 trees.

In April, around 150 staff members and their families helped plant some of the 10,000 trees at Ma On Shan Country Park, bringing the total number of trees we have planted since 1999 to 50,000.

More than 150,000 Personal e-Banking accounts and 2,300 shareholders now receive materials electronically, resulting in an annual saving of about 8 million sheets of paper.

By end of this year, Hang Seng’s new office in Kowloon Bay will come into operation. Comprehensive environmental measures will be implemented at this building, helping to improve our overall environmental performance.

And with the establishment of our Mainland subsidiary bank later this year, we will enhance our environmental work in mainland China.