Barclays

Sector: Corporate

Employees:

> 122,600 in more than 50 countries (2006)

Carbon Footprint:

> 473,200 metric tonnes CO₂e globally (2006)

TARGETS

Barclays’ commitments for 2007 are:
> Working towards becoming globally carbon neutral;
> Source renewable energy for international operations; and
> Develop further environmental products for personal customers and launch employee guide on climate change actions.
For UK operations, its targets for 2006-2010 are to:
> Reduce CO₂ emissions by 20% by 2010 (using 2000 as the baseline year);
> Reduce carbon intensity from 16.8 tonnes to 12.6 tonnes CO₂ per £1m of UK income;
> Reduce energy consumption in offices and branches by 20% per employee (FTE); and
> Improve data centre efficiency.

Achievements

> UK operations carbon neutral for 2006.
> Renewable energy purchased for over 50% of UK operations.
> Operations in France and Absa in South Africa became the first major banks in those countries to achieve ISO14001 accreditation.

Awards:
> Member of the 2006 Dow Jones Sustainability Index – 1st position amongst banks for environmental reporting.
> Member of the 2006 FTSE4Good Index.
> A platinum company in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index.
> Member of the PerCent Club.
> Carbon Disclosure Project – ranked in the top 50 ‘best in class’ companies in the Global FT500.
> Barclays Capital voted ‘Best Trading Company’ in Europe’s carbon emissions trading scheme by Environmental Finance magazine.
> Won a Green Apple Award for its waste management at six key UK sites.

Benefits

> Energy efficiency improvements in the UK have made large energy and energy bill savings (approx. 10.2 GWh / year in total). The remote monitoring systems installed in the branches has saved an equivalent of 836 t CO₂e and cut Barclays’ gas bills by an average of 32%. Site surveys identify environmental improvements, with one review resulting in immediate energy savings of almost 10%.
> With over 50% of Barclays’ UK operations supplied from renewable sources, carbon emissions will be reduced by 80,000 tonnes in 2007, equating to the emissions of 13,000 homes.
> Since January 2006, Barclays UK operations have used recycled copy paper, saving around £100,000 and 36,000 trees.

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

Barclays is a major global bank with 27 million customers and clients and operates in more than 50 countries. The company has developed a diverse and robust portfolio of financial services including global retail and commercial banking, and investment banking and investment management. 50% of its profit now comes from outside the UK. The acquisition of Absa, one of South Africa’s largest financial services organisations in 2005 was a big step towards that, and 30% of Barclays employees are now in Africa.
Barclays impacts on the environment both directly through its own operations, and indirectly through its supply chain and corporate lending. Through its Climate Action Programme set up to reduce its environmental impact, Barclays has introduced initiatives for both its business and its customers. The programme has six main objectives:
> Reduce carbon dioxide CO₂ emissions by improving energy efficiency;
> Buy renewable energy;
> Make our UK operations carbon neutral by offsetting the remaining CO₂ emissions;
> Offer products and services that help our customers to reduce their impact on climate change;
> Engage with key stakeholders and contribute to the debate on climate change action; and
> Work with other financial services organisations to understand the industry’s indirect impact on climate change.

> Barclays has set up a section on its website to help employees get involved in its environmental programme, which includes a ‘Rough Guide to Saving Energy and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint’.

> As well as the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), Barclays Capital has started transacting Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) in Asia and the Americas.

> Over the next five years Barclays plans to increase UK energy efficiency by 20% as the result of a multimillion pound ‘invest to save’ programme. For example, they are investing in energy-efficient technology such as boiler upgrades, low CO₂-emitting IT equipment, and modern air conditioning units.

> Barclays is extending its ISO14001 certified Environmental Management System (EMS) around the world, with both the Barclays Group’s central EMS and operations in five countries now receiving certification. Operations in France and Absa in South Africa became the first major banks in those countries to achieve such accreditation.

> Barclays now report 100% of its environmental performance data in the UK, around 80% of continental European operations, and 94% in its other territories, reflecting the inclusion of Absa.

> In the UK, Barclays has offset its UK CO₂ emissions making the UK operations carbon neutral for 2006.

> Barclays were co-founders of the Equator Principles, and in 2006 extended their industry specific risk guidance to cover over 50 environmentally and socially sensitive sectors. Whilst developing these revised guidelines, Barclays collaborated with the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in the creation of a practical ‘toolkit’. They worked with specialist environmental consultants URS and environmental stakeholders including the World Wildlife Fund on this toolkit, making it available to the UNEP FI’s 170 member institutions to help inform their own lending and risk management decisions.

> Barclays customers in the UK are using its new carbon neutral debit card – the first in the country. Working in close co-operation with the card manufacturer Axalto, the card is being rolled out to all 11 million debit card users as their current cards expire. All the CO₂ generated by making the card is offset by projects in the UK.

> The Barclays Natural Resources Team has provided long-term finance for over 2,600MW of renewable generating capacity, including onshore windfarms, landfill gas extraction plants, small-scale hydroelectric projects, biomass plants and biodiesel conversion plants.

> 12% of the UK retail network is already powered by renewable electricity, and over 50% of Barclays’ UK operations are supplied from renewable sources from a portfolio of different sources including wind, small scale hydro, landfill, bio-gas, tidal and waste.

Barclays’ commitments for 2007 are:
> Working towards becoming globally carbon neutral;
> Source renewable energy for international operations; and
> Develop further environmental products for personal customers and launch employee guide on climate change actions.

For UK operations, its targets for 2006-2010 are to:
> Reduce CO₂ emissions by 20% by 2010 (using 2000 as the baseline year);
> Reduce energy consumption in offices and branches by 20% per employee (FTE);
> Improve data centre efficiency; and
> Reduce carbon intensity from 16.8 tonnes to 12.6 tonnes CO₂ per £1m of UK income.

> In 2006, the Barclays global sourcing team began issuing a Corporate Responsibility Supplier Questionnaire to identify and manage the social and environmental risks. The new process covers the top 57 medium to high-risk suppliers, which account for around UK£1.5 billion of Barclays’ supplier spend. The questionnaire is also a standard part of the process for choosing new Barclays suppliers throughout the world.

> In 2005 Barclays launched a five-year multimillion pound ‘invest-to-save’ programme of energy efficiency in properties in the UK. A number of initiatives are underway including remote monitoring systems which allow the company to monitor and adjust heating boilers from a single location; motion sensors for the lighting systems; upgrading air handling units; and testing new water and CO₂ cooling systems in its data centres.
> In Asba, South Africa, a number of recycling and energy efficiency initiatives are under way, supported by an extensive programme of employee communication and training. Good progress is already being made on issues such as paper use, lighting and cooling.

Some of Barclays’ actions so far include:
> Investing in better audio and video conferencing technology, and encouraging their use;
> Continuing to increase and monitor its use of rail services;
> Working with the Energy Saving Trust, which is undertaking a review of Barclays’ car fleet and offering recommendations for improvement.

> In the UK, United Arab Emirates and Japan, recycling rates have reached 74% with almost 450 tonnes of paper, plastics, cans, wood and card recycled in the last six months of 2006.