Our Commitment

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Greening Our Operations

In 2011, we became the first domestic bank in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 14001 certification for its entire network of offices and branches.

The Bank established an Environmental Policy in 2003 and, since then, the Environmental Management Committee has closely monitored our environmental management system (EMS) to ensure it continues to meet ISO 14001 standards. The Committee is also responsible for ensuring that our EMS and business strategies complement each other in support of the objective of continuous improvement.

The Bank has annual environmental targets that aim to minimise the negative impacts of our business, and engage in activities that have a positive effect on the environment.

Our e-Statement and e-InvestAdvice services offer e-Banking customers the option to receive account statements and other notices in electronic rather than paper format. At the end of 2014, the number of e-Statement subscribers was more than 1.56 million and over 123,000 customers were using e-InvestAdvice - collectively saving more than 45 million sheets of paper a year. By the end of 2014, 30% of our credit card customers receive electronic statements rather than physical copies, and e-channels accounted for 25% and 16% of applications for credit cards and personal loans respectively.

Designed specifically for full-time tertiary students at local universities and tertiary institutions, our Green Banking Integrated Account encourages greener banking practices by offering a range of environmentally friendly financial services.

As part of our commitment to protecting the world's precious natural resources and working to maintain the fragile balance of ecological systems, we stopped serving shark's fin at Bank functions in 2003 and have since removed endangered reef fish species from our menus. We also provide a WWF (Hong Kong) endorsed sustainable seafood menu at our banquet hall.

Through training programmes and our internal practices, we empower our staff to act as Green Ambassadors among their associates, families and friends by raising their awareness of environmental issues.

We closely monitor our greenhouse gas emissions (see table: Environmental Performance) and continue to take steps to stay abreast of environment-related regulatory developments that could directly or indirectly impact our business. We continue to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project, which provides a forum for the world's largest institutional investors to collectively consider the business implications of climate change.

Environmental Performance Unit 2014^ 2013#
Carbon Dioxide Emissions*
Total CO2 emissions tonnes 24,998.78 24,634.95
- Energy tonnes 24,707.00 24,307.27
- Business Travel tonnes 291.78 327.68
Total CO2 emissions per FTE tonnes/FTE 3.12 3.11
- CO2 emissions per FTE from energy tonnes/FTE 3.08 3.07
- CO2 emissions per FTE from business travel tonnes/FTE 0.04 0.04
CO2 emissions per sq ft tonnes/sq ft 0.02 0.02
Resources Consumption
Total energy consumption Gj 128,018.71 128,498.30
- Electricity Gj 126,672.27 126,986.40
- Other fuel sources (gas and diesel) Gj 1,346.44 1,511.90
Energy consumption per FTE Gj/FTE 15.97 16.24
Energy consumption per sq ft Gj/sq ft 0.09 0.09
Total water consumption 000m3 68.48 64.81
Water consumption per FTE m3/ FTE 8.54 8.19
Total paper consumption+ tonnes 2,053.37 2,018.85
- Compliant % 98.49 92.68
- Near-compliant % 0.54 1.24
- Non-compliant % 0.98 6.08
Waste Disposed to Landfill
Total Waste Disposed to landfill tonnes 313.74 287.36
- General Office Waste tonnes 289.93 287.36
- IT and electrical tonnes 23.81 0.00
Waste disposed per FTE tonnes/ FTE 0.04 0.04
Waste Collected for Recycling
Total waste collected for recycling tonnes 779.76 820.76
- General office tonnes 682.88 761.92
- IT and electrical tonnes 61.50 58.84
- Other waste tonnes 35.38 --

Data is round up to 2 decimal places.

Key:
m3: Cubic metres    CO2:Carbon dioxide    Gj: Gigajoules    FTE: Full-time equivalent employee    
sq ft: Square foot

# From 1 Oct 2012 - 30 Sep 2013

^ From 1 Oct 2013 - 30 Sep 2014

* Data is calculated and verified through HSBC Group.

+ Paper

- Compliant Paper: Paper certified by an HSBC Approved Certification Scheme. Currently includes FSC, Canadian Standards Association, etc.

- Near-compliant Paper: Paper that contains virgin pulp whose source country is known and not on the high-risk country list; and/or completely recycled paper, but not certified by an HSBC approved scheme.

- Non-compliant Paper: Source country of the virgin portion is unknown or on the high-risk country list, and is not certified by any HSBC approved scheme.

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