Environmental Impacts
We are committed to conducting our business in an environmentally sustainable manner and recognise the significant global threat posed by climate change and other environmental issues.
Our approach to environmental issues is coordinated through our Group Environment Programme, which is overseen by our Environment Working Group. There are 4 key areas of focus:
- Customers, products and services
- Environmental risk
- Operational impacts
- Employee engagement
Customers, products and services
In 2008, RBS was one of the world's leading global arrangers of finance to renewable energy projects - predominantly onshore wind, solar and hydro projects. We were also a major arranger of finance to fossil fuel projects - a position which drew some criticism from a number of campaign groups. In total, our project financing to renewable energy projects represented around 24% of our total energy financing.
For our personal and small business customers, we have created products and services that make further contributions to environmental sustainability:
- In 2008, more than 1.6 million accounts switched to our 'go paperless' facility giving annual savings of around 240 tonnes of paper
- Citizens Bank launched the Green$ense account, financially rewarding customers for reducing paper-based transactions
Environmental risk analysis
In 2008 we further developed our processes and procedures to assess environmental, social and ethical risks.
View the Group's Environment Policy (pdf 26KB)
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For transactions that require project finance, we follow the Equator Principles guidelines, our classification of 2008 projects is included in the table below:
2008 project finance deals
Status of PF deals first logged in 2008
| Equator Principle Category | A | B | C | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deals approved with environmental and social conditions | 0 | 29 | 9 | 38 |
| Deals declined | 4 | 44 | 15 | 63 |
| Total number of deals | 4 | 73 | 24 | 101 |
PF deals first logged in 2008 by industry sector
| Equator Principle Category | A | B | C | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | 0 | 30 | 4 | 34 |
| Power & utilities, renewables | 1 | 13 | 12 | 26 |
| Oil & gas | 0 | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| Mining & metals | 3 | 6 | 2 | 11 |
| Other | 0 | 14 | 4 | 18 |
| Total number of deals | 4 | 73 | 24 | 101 |
Direct operational impacts
Through the course of 2008 we have continued to implement a number of initiatives that aim to reduce our direct environmental impacts and make our operations more resource-efficient:
- Procured 92.2% of our contracted electricity in the UK and Ireland from renewable sources
- Completed environmental upgrades to a number of buildings
- Invested in rainwater harvesting systems at several of our main buildings in Scotland, the USA and Dubai
Key Environmental Data
| 2008 UK and Ireland | 2008 USA | 2008 Group Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | |||
| Total energy consumption (GWh) | 960.8 | 275.7 | 1507.3 |
| Renewable electricity use (% of total electricity consumption) | 92.2% | 7.7% | 59.1% |
| Waste | |||
| Total confidential waste (Ktonnes) | 17.6 | 5.0 | 27.6 |
| Water | |||
| Property-based water use (million m3) | 1.74 | 1.23 | 3.62 |
| Business Travel (million km) | |||
| Total business travel | 376.2 | 101.3 | 582.1 |
| Air - (Centrally booked) | 190.6 | 62.4 | 308.3 |
| Road | 160.7 | 37.9 | 242.2 |
| Rail - (Centrally booked) | 24.9 | 1.0 | 31.5 |
| Paper (Ktonnes) | |||
| Total paper | 39.7 | 7.1 | 57.0 |
| Estimated CO2 emissions (Ktonnes) | |||
| CO2 emissions from property based energy use | 418.8 | 120.9 | 657.9 |
| CO2 emissions from business travel | 55.1 | 20.2 | 91.8 |
Measuring our performance
In 2009 we continue to be highly rated in the main external indices that measure environmental and social performance.
- Participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project for the sixth year running and awarded a score of 77% for our approach to managing climate change related risks and opportunities
- Included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index with a score of 76% for our approach to social and environmental issues
- Maintained inclusion in the FTSE4Good Index
- Fulfilled our commitments under the UN Global Compact
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FAQs
- Who should I call if we have a general enquiry?
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We want to put you in touch with the right person to help you, so please have a look at the various sections on the Contact Us page.
- What is the registered address of the RBS Group head office?
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The registered address is The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Registered in Scotland No 90312. Registered Office: 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH2 2YB.
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