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The Co-operative Bank*
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Ecological Sustainabilty |  Indicators |  Partnership Report 2001 |  Our Performance |  Home
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Introduction >>
 Ecological Mission Statement
 Environmental Management
 Energy
 Water
 Persistent Bio-Accumulative Chemicals
 Transport and Emissions to Air
 Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle
 Paper and Printing
 Hotels
 Land Occupied and Biodiversity Impact
 Finance: Tailored Ecological Products and Services

Delivering Value
 Social Responsibility
Financial Statements 2001

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Ecological Sustainability : Introduction
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ecological sustainability
Living in the real world The Co-operative Bank is seeking to reconstitute the relationship between its business activities and Nature. This is not being pursued for altruistic reasons, but because there are physical limits to the resources of the Earth (both in terms of generating materials and absorbing wastes). Any business activity that exceeds Nature's nonnegotiable limits is by definition unsustainable in the medium to long term. The bank's Ecological Mission Statement (follow this link to the Ecological Mission Statement) sets out the minimum conditions for ecological sustainability and is heavily influenced by an approach referred to as The Natural Step.i

Normalisation Once again, in this year's Report, the bank presents details of its ecological impact in relation to customer account numbers. If a business controls its energy consumption, whilst at the same time increasing the number of customer accounts it operates, then real eco-productivity gains have been achieved. During 2001, accounts grew by 85,000 or 3%. Some businesses normalise their impacts on the basis of employee numbers. Therefore, to facilitate benchmarking, data is also presented on this basis. 'Headcount' is taken to be 4,318, and includes 337 staff from Unisys and Xansa who are based at the bank's premises in London and Skelmersdale.

Benchmarking The bank has once again measured its performance against Credit Suisse Group, as stated in their Environmental Report 1999/00 or their Energy and Materials Report 2000.ii The Credit Suisse Group Environmental Report is one of the few in which data has been externally verified and the Group was recently commended for its environmental performance in a survey of major European banks conducted by Oekom Research.iii Credit Suisse Group data refers to their operations in Switzerland alone.

Developments In 2001, the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) produced guidelines which set out how to produce a good quality environmental report.iv The bank's 2001 Partnership Report is consistent with the proposed 'reporting process', and covers both those indicators suggested as being 'relevant to all organisations' and those indicators considered to be 'additional extras'. The guidance cites the bank as one of seven examples of good practice. DEFRA has also published separate guidelines on how to measure and report on the three key impacts common to all companies: greenhouse gas emissions, waste and water use. Follow this link for a full list of the standards and guidelines considered, and the bank's involvement in each.

Assurance An assessment of the degree to which the bank succeeds in delivering value to its Partners in an ecologically sustainable manner is provided by Jonathon Porritt, Chairman of The Natural Step UK, on page 85. For further details, please contact Paul Monaghan, the bank's Partnership Development Manager (pmonag@co-operativebank.co.uk). 		*
  1. www.naturalstep.org.uk
  2. www.credit-suisse.com/en/who_we_are/environment.html
  3. www.oekom.de
  4. www.defra.gov.uk/environment/envrp/index.htm
    To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
Continue to: Ecological Mission Statement Back To Top

The above data and commentary has been audited by ethics etc...