Environmental policy

Overview

Over the last 15 years the Society has proactively introduced a number of successful environmental practices including adoption of the Government’s “Making a Corporate Commitment to Energy Efficiency Campaign” along with the launch of a number of Green Mortgage products such as the ‘Carbon Neutral Mortgage’.

These practices were brought together in 2000 under a new Environmental Policy which obtained board approval in November 2000.

The Norwich and Peterborough Group Environmental Policy:

“To minimise our impact on the environment by adopting best practice in the use of energy, management of waste and use of natural resources”

Environmental Objectives 2007

The Society’s aim is to be a carbon neutral business through the minimisation of resources, the production of micro energy and finally the offsetting of all remaining carbon emissions.

The Society’s targets for 2007 work towards this aim and are based on past performance and expected changes to premises, processes or operations in the forthcoming 12 months.

1.0 Energy

Monitoring of electricity and gas consumption at the Principal Office will be undertaken monthly and reported to the executive team on a quarterly basis. Monitoring of electricity and gas consumption across the branch network will be undertaken on an ad hoc basis and reported to the executive team annually.

Energy saving initiatives will be reviewed on a regular basis and the use of electricity supplies from renewable sources will be implemented where financially viable.

The following Lynch Wood electricity consumption targets will be set for 2007 representing a 2% reduction:

Principal Office	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Total year end kWh
2002 actual	304825	271434	266059	276552	1118870
2003 actual	285240	259775	271154	284602	1100771
2004 actual	289417	273482	294352	289399	1146650
2005 actual	293832	310318	321515	316617	1242282
2006 actual	313138	282848	285589	297382	1178957*
2007 target	310000	280000	280000	295000	1165000
2007 actual	301305

* 2006 reflects the first full calendar year with longer operating hours and inclusion of contact centre staff.

The branch network electricity consumption target will be set at 2,000,000 kWh for 2007. The compares to 2,045,000 actual in 2006 reflecting a 2% reduction.

The following Lynch Wood gas consumption targets will be set for 2007 representing a 2% reduction.

Principal Office	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Total year end kWh
2002 actual	202697	118739	20057	206133	547626
2003 actual	251787	94310	16604	155186	517887
2004 actual	277571	91760	20840	155249	545420
2005 actual	282440	89274	21310	145455	538479
2006 actual	270421	113794	19809	145411	549435**
2007 target	265000	110000	19500	144000	538500
2007 actual	225691

** 2006 reflects the first full calendar year with longer operating hours and inclusion of contact centre staff.

The branch network gas consumption target will be set at 255,000 kWh for 2007. This compares to 260,000 in 2006 representing a 2% reduction.

2.0 Water

Monitoring of water consumption at the Principal Office will be undertaken monthly and reported to the executive team on a quarterly basis. Monitoring of water consumption across the branch network will be undertaken on an ad hoc basis and reported to the executive team on an annual basis.

Water saving initiatives will be reviewed on a regular basis and implemented where viable.

The following Lynch Wood water consumption targets will be set for 2007 representing a comparable figure to 2006.

Principal Office	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Total year end m3
2002 actual	1030	1031	1004	1005	4070
2003 actual	836	754	977	977	3544
2004 actual	1088	544	1032	957	3621
2005 actual	849	1054	972	948	3823
2006 actual	967	988	965	965	3885***
2007 target	975	990	960	960	3885
2007 actual

*** 2006 reflects the first full calendar year with longer operating hours and inclusion of contact centre staff.

The branch network water consumption target will be set at 2800m3 for 2007 which is comparable to 2006’s actual consumption.

3.0 Transport

The Society’s Travel Plan will be used as a guide throughout the year in order to:

Minimise the amount of mileage undertaken by staff for business use.
Minimise the amount of mileage undertaken by the Society’s suppliers for business use.
Minimise commuter traffic at the Principal Office for single occupancy car users.
Explore opportunities to positively discriminate in favour of less polluting forms of transport.

4.0 Resource Management

The Society will actively seek out and promote opportunities to minimise waste and maximise recycling across the following areas:

Toner cartridges
Plastic drinking cups
IT equipment and consumables
Telephony equipment and consumables
Fluorescent lighting
Stationery products
Marketing materials and packaging
Building waste
Furniture
Grounds maintenance (composting etc)
Paper

The use of materials from managed sustainable sources will be actively sought including:

Materials for shopfitting and building works
Paper for stationery and marketing materials

The use of ozone depleting chemicals including HCFC’s for air conditioning will continue to be phased out.

5.0 Environmental Support & Benchmarking

Accreditation under the PECT Environmental Management Scheme will be retained and used as a guide throughout the year to help minimise waste and reduce pollution.

Opportunities for the promotion of energy efficiency across the region will be actively sought including;

Development of environmental products (green mortgages etc)
Joint ventures with non-profit making organisations
Promotion of the Society’s Environmental Policies and achievements to act as an example for others to follow.

6.0 Micro Energy

The opportunity to generate our own electricity at the Principal Office will be reviewed including the use of solar panels, PVs, wind turbines and ground to air heat pumps.

7.0 Offsetting

All scope 1 and 2 emissions (greenhouse gas emissions protocol 2004 – WRI and WBC for sustainable development) will be offset through the Carbon Neutral company by supporting projects in the UK and overseas including sequestration and new technologies.

The Society’s GHG emissions for scope 1 and 2 for 2006 was 2091 tonne CO2 equating to a footprint of approximately 2 tonnes CO2 per employee or X CO2 per £ assets.

A 2% reduction target will be set across the group for 2007.