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assessment of ecological sustainability: the natural step
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The fact that The Co-operative Bank has again obtained a
number of prestigious awards for its reports and actions
in the last year clearly demonstrates that it still occupies a
leadership role in addressing sustainability issues within
the business context. The Natural Step (a science-based
sustainability initiative, for which Forum for the Future is
the licensee here in the UK) has continued to work with
the bank during this time. It's in my capacity as Chairman
of The Natural Step in the UK that I have been asked to
assess those elements in the Partnership Report relating
to ecological sustainability.
It is once again an exciting and informative Report. For
people like me, this stuff gladdens the heart in amongst so
much gloom and doom! Further progress has been made
in reducing most of its main environmental impacts over
the last few years. The bank clearly states that its overall
approach to environmental management and social
responsibility is by now well embedded across the
organisation, and an impressive number of staff do indeed
appear to understand the bank's mission. However, the
fact that only just over half feel the bank behaves ethically
towards staff opens up a possible dichotomy of word and
action that may need to be addressed.
As in earlier Reports, performance improvements
in the bank are driven by rigorous target-setting against
key indicators. The indicators and targets used are
appropriate, but analysis can be somewhat narrow and
over-dependent on current issues. For example, while
PVC is eliminated from use through the substitution of
other products, there appears to be no analysis against
The Natural Step's system conditions of the "new"
products (e.g. PETG) - so how does the bank know they
won't become "the next PVC"?
As before, the proportion of its energy derived from
renewables is impressive. But is there a suggestion here
of the bank resting on its laurels? Given that these 'green
kilowatts' are going to be quite hard to come by as the UK
gets its renewables act together, there's still an issue
about total energy consumption - however much of it
comes from renewables. It would be good to see a higher
priority on reducing energy consumption within next
year's Report. Considerable gains have been made on
water consumption, and it would be good to see the same
effect with energy usage.
In a service-based sector such as a bank, paper use is a
major contributor to overall environmental impact. It is
therefore hoped that the targets now set will be met over
the next year and it is good to see ongoing proactive
discussions with suppliers about the recycled content of
security-based papers. The bank has worked with The
Natural Step on a project examining the issue of Bulk
Printing with a view to determining ecological best
practice in this area. The work has identified some
interesting indicators, which may be applicable for bulk
printing generically, but still need refinement for the bank's
specific organisational needs.
In the same vein, the use of The Natural Step Framework
has been important in the bank's auditing of suppliers. It
is therefore good to see that it has targets for further
engagement with suppliers.
For the transport section, although there is the desire and
a target to increase staff usage of public transport and car
sharing, the total bank mileage has increased.
Fortunately, an improvement in the efficiency of cars has
resulted in reduced overall emissions, but perhaps more
should be done to push technologies such as videoconferencing?
Every company is finding this a tough nut
to crack, and it's good to see that the bank has not given
up on it!
The road to sustainable development, as the bank well
knows, is a long journey. The achievements to date fully
justify the bank's leadership role, but testing some of the
current boundaries to sustainable development thinking in
the bank would help take it even further on its "journey" to
sustainability. Behind all the targets and figures, providing
as eloquent an example of 'the business case' for
sustainable development as one is likely to find, there's a
vision and moral purpose that provides the real foundation
to this Report.
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Jonathon Porritt, 8th March 2002 |
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