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ethical and ecological screening
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- Suppliers: ethical and ecological screening
- Extend the bank's capability to undertake an increasing number and range of ecological assessments.
TARGET ACHIEVED
- Continue to screen all new supply contracts for Ethical Policy compliance (insofar as corporate responsibility is concerned) and report on findings. TARGET ACHIEVED
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performance
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Ecological Screening of Suppliers, 2001
(via assessment of ecological impact of products and services)
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| (Source: Ecology Unit 2002)
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Excludes considerable screening activity relating to paper (follow
this link for details of the bank's use of paper) and recycled waste
(follow this link for details of the bank's recycled waste).
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commentary
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Background The bank's Ecology Unit assesses the ecological
impact of a given product or service, whilst the bank's Ethical
Policy Unit assesses the ethical and environmental profile
of the company making the product or service. The Ecology
Unit expanded in 2001 to ensure it continues to respond to
the increasing range and number of ecological assessments
required.
Ecological screening In addition to activity relating to paper
and recycled waste, the Ecology Unit managed the screening
of 350 products and/or services during 2001 (these had a
contract value of £3.87 million). Of these ecological
assessments, the vast majority related to persistent bioaccumulative
chemicals (follow this link for further information on
persistent bioaccumulative chemicals) and energy (follow
this link for further information on the bank's energy consumption). In 99%
of cases, ecological assessment led to an improvement
in the ecological impact of products and services. In just six
instances it was considered necessary to contract a service
deemed unsatisfactory from an ecological perspective, and
where it was considered a technical alternative existed.
Despite strenuous efforts, the bank could not find end-users
for surplus CFCs and utilised incineration as a
disposal route. The bank was unable to source renewable
electricity for three branches from ecotricity and utilised
standard fossil fuel suppliers. A number of workstations were
purchased utilising wood from unsustainable sources. Lastly,
the bank purchased an HFC chiller. Follow this link for further information on persistent bioaccumulative chemicals.
Toxics During 2000, the bank's Ecology Unit began screening
all referred supplier contracts against a range of toxic
chemicals. The bank affords a much higher rating to
'toxicity', and a much lower rating to energy efficiency, when
undertaking ecological analysis. For example, the Building
Research Establishment's (BRE) profiling system for building
materials and components is utilised by the bank. However,
the relative importance rating attributed to factors is adjusted
by the bank as the BRE rates toxicity at just 6.2% and energy
matters as high as 57%. Where renewable energy is utilised
(as on the bank's premises), then net carbon dioxide emissions
are negligible. Therefore, 'energy' should be heavily
discounted in assessments - as is the case with the bank's air
conditioning systems. Follow this link for further information on persistent bioaccumulative chemicals.
Ethical screening The total value of contracts screened on
the basis of ethics was £11.9 million, of which contracts with a
value of £400,000 were considered unacceptable. During
2001, the bank sought to develop relationships with a number
of 'marketing partners', with the intention that these partners
would promote their products to the bank's personal
customers. This involved the bank in considering a wider range
of corporate activities than it would normally evaluate
regarding direct suppliers. The bank was unable to promote
the products of fifteen potential partners.
SA8000 The bank has previously reported that it was
considering enhancing current screening procedures to give
added consideration to the ethical profile of a product or
service. During the year, the bank initiated social assessments
of three potential suppliers against the SA8000 standard.i
SA8000 is built on the core conventions of the International
Labour Organisation, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The
social assessment included manufacturers of workwear for
staff uniforms in eastern Europe and a supplier of Information
Technology services in India. The assessments were carried
out by an independent third party, SGS-ICS,ii employing local
auditors. The audits concluded that the operations complied
well with the clauses and intent of SA8000 and relevant local
legislation. A small number of minor issues were noted which
were communicated to the various management teams.
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- www.cepaa.org
- www.sgs.com
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
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ethical and ecological value analysis
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- Estimated additional cost of pursuing ethical/ecological
best practice compared with the lowest cost option of
similar quality £905,600
- External research, audit and commentary, annual costs
relating to ethics and ecology £340,000
- Internal annual overhead associated with maintenance and
development of ethical and ecological management and
performance £398,000
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new target
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Develop an ecological purchasing guide for use throughout the bank.
Becky Toal, Ecological Analyst
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