RBS sets new environmental targets

Banking group RBS has unveiled plans to reduce energy, water and waste in its operations by around 15% by 2014 as part of its wider ambition of saving £200m by 2020.


To support this goal, environmental targets have been set, against a 2011 baseline, which aim to improve the efficiency of the bank’s operations and cut costs.

By 2014 it plans to reduce energy and carbon emissions by 15%, water use by 12% and reduce waste disposal to landfill by 15%. It also aims to meet a waste recycling, reuse and recovery target of 70%.

The next stage includes a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from business travel by 2020, as it looks to increase investment in video conferencing and virtual technology.

According to RBS, it reduced air travel by 16% in 2011 – saving 24,000 air miles and 72 tonnes of CO2 using virtual conferencing.

It also plans to upgrade its building management systems to enable better energy performance measurement and identify areas for improvement.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester, said: “I’m very pleased that RBS has set ambitious targets to reduce our environmental impacts and help save resources over the coming years. Big business, big employers like RBS have a duty to manage their carbon footprint.”

Carys Matthews

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