Lloyds Bank’s emissions increase due to rise in business travel

Lloyds Banking Group has reported a 1.2% increase in its overall carbon emissions for 2013, compared to 2012 - a result of increased business travel, gas and electricity use.


Total business travel in 2013 amounted to 334 million kilometres, an increase of 5.4% from 2012.

“We know that part of the reason for this has been down to growth in our business and the need to travel more to meet our customers’ needs,” the bank states in its 2013 Responsible Business report.

Increases in gas use have been attributed to last years “cold winter conditions”, while the rise in electricity use was a result of the heatwave conditions that followed in summer.

The electricity and gas increase resulted in overall energy use increasing by 3% in 2013, compared to 2012. However, Lloyd’s has achieved a 12.7% reduction in energy use against its 2009 baseline, resulting in cost savings of £8.7m in 2013 and £22m since 2010.

The bank has stressed that consuming less energy is a “big focus”, because energy accounts for around 85% of its reported CO2 equivalent emissions.

Despite last year’s increase in energy, Lloyd’s says work to date has principally improved and optimised its building control systems, which it says makes it much easier to control energy use in branches and offices.

In addition, the company says it is working to improve the efficiency of its IT infrastructure. Examples include switching off all desktop PCs out of operating hours and upgrading all of its printers across the UK.

According to the bank’s report, it invested £5m last year on energy saving technologies and plans to invest a further £7m in 2014 on energy efficiency projects.

Other areas the company reports on include water usage and waste. In 2013, Lloyd’s consumed 18% less water than in 2009.

Contributing to the reduction, the bank piloted a set of water-saving devices including waterless urinals. However, the devices have not yet been widely rolled out as it has focused resources on managing energy.

“We plan to reassess our water management plan to drive further reductions,” the report states.

On waste, the company reported that in 2012 94% of all operational waste was diverted from landfill, which it improved on in 2013, diverting more than 95%.

This achievement meant the bank beat its 2020 target of 92% several years ahead of schedule.

“We’re going to review and possibly adjust this target in 2014 to take account of regulatory changes that will require more segregation of waste,” the report adds.

Leigh Stringer

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