Environmental impact Medium
Employer/employee ranking 3/49
Staff numbers 74,000
Energy reduction 13%
Recycling 48%

The aim is to make saving money and saving the environment go hand in hand at HBOS.

The company, whose Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches have 22m customers, believes it is the first in Europe to introduce a “carbon labelled” bank account. The Edinburgh-based firm has worked with the Carbon Trust to calculate the carbon emissions generated every year by a customer’s use of a savings account. The IT involved in opening and administering the account, the customer’s use of cash machines and the production of paper statements are all taken into account.

Nearly 2m customers have chosen to receive electronic versions of their statements and letters from the bank, saving many millions of sheets of paper a year. HBOS has made a commitment to further reduce the amount of paper it uses by at least 10% over the next three years.

Last year, HBOS’s UK operations became carbon neutral, although staff admit they do not fully understand what the company’s carbon footprint is (with a 56% green score). Initiatives such as using 100% renewable energy for its 2,200 buildings in the UK have reduced carbon emissions by two-thirds in three years.

The bank is also driving its carbon emissions down thanks to a fleet of environmentally friendly company cars. Some of the vehicles run on liquid petroleum gas, an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol. The rest are hybrid cars, which are fuelled by a combination of petrol and electricity.

After identifying work-related travel as HBOS’s biggest source of carbon emissions, the company launched a loyalty scheme, Green Miles, to encourage employees to find alternatives to travelling, such as using conference calls. A proportion of the money saved on petrol, a flight or a train ticket is matched by HBOS’s charity foundation, and then donated to the firm’s charity of the year. This year CLIC Sargent, the children’s cancer charity, is being supported.

Staff feel the company’s environmental impacts are improving (74%) and don’t think HBOS’s investments in green initiatives are a waste of money (82%). They say there are showers and changing rooms for those who want to cycle, walk or run to work (65%). The 58% green score for being encouraged to use public transport or car share for the daily commute, ranks HBOS in the top 20 for this question, considerably ahead of its overall employee survey ranking of 49th.