The environment

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CARBON FOOTPRINT MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES

The group recognises that strong governance structures need to be in place to address climate change and to take early action regarding the risks and opportunities associated with it. More than this, it requires a holistic and forward-looking management approach. A number of initiatives in this regard were implemented in 2008, including the following:

Carbon asset management team:
To position Nedbank and its clients appropriately for a carbon-constrained future Nedbank Capital established a dedicated Carbon Finance Team to view carbon dioxide and other emissions holistically. The team looks at emissions end to end, using a five-pronged approach that draws on cross-functional expertise in finance against the backdrop of a value proposition comprising the following:

ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE

During 2008 a total of R13,6 million was channelled through The Green Trust programmes, Enterprise Governance and Compliance, Group Communications and Property Services, into environmental initiatives (2007: R6,5 million). Approximately R400 000 of the total amount was spent on recycling bins for our headoffice buildings in 2008.




Power2u energy-saving campaign rollout throughout the group including all Nedbank Retail branches to encourage staff to exchange their CFL bulbs for new energy-efficient bulbs. Nedbank exchanged in excess of 29 000 bulbs.

The data contained in the table below relates only to the 13 headoffice and regional office buildings managed by Nedbank Group Property Services:

Environmental data disclosure

      Total      
    Total   2007      
  Materials consumed 2008   restated*     Trend 2007 to 2008
  Paper (tons) – 100% recycled: FSC-accredited 1 007   1 047     Positive trend as a
  sources       result of awareness
          initiatives and
          procurement monitoring.
  Waste reduction  
  Sent to landfills (cubic metres) 6 907   7 930     Positive trends due to
  Recycled plastic (tons) 12,7   1,9     recycling initiatives. See
  Recycled glass bottles (tons) 4,6   5,9     details of the ‘Sorted:
  Recycled tins (tons) 7,0   1,9     Reduce, Reuse
  Recycled cardboard (tons) 64,1   49,5     and Recycle’ initiatives.
  Recycled paper (including shredded paper 310   337      
  and electronic scraps) (tons)        
  Direct energy use
  Direct energy use – total electricity usage       Positive trends due to
  (kilowatt-hours) 94 552 210   100 580 577     introduction of energy
  Direct energy use – total costs (rands) R30 365 492   R25 273 093     efficiency initiatives.
  Energy usage per fulltime employee        
  (kilowatt-hours) 6 270   7 082      
  Generators
  Running time (hours) 1 483   724     Increased consumption
  Diesel consumption (litres) 269 844   157 861     largely attributable
          to power outages.
  Water use
  Total water use (kilolitres) 373 935   445 450     Water-saving initiatives
  Total water costs (rands) R3 629 270   R3 896 363     introduced.
  Water usage per fulltime employee (kilolitres) 24,80   31,36      
  * 2007 restated: Subsequent to the production of the 2007 data, additional data has been made available to enable the inclusion of emissions associated with additional premises and indirect emission activities. To provide meaningful year-on-year comparison, the 2007 data has been restated.

Overview of Nedbank Group carbon emissions 2008

  Reporting     
  period   Financial year 2008 
  Methodology   The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol – Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition)
  Inclusions   Nedbank’s activities, equipment and operations, as well as the actions of its employees associated directly with:
     
  • 13 headoffice buildings
  • 25 owned retail branches
  • Four mobile branches
  • 10 branch-in-a-box offices
  Exclusions   Data required to undertake emissions calculation is not currently available
for the following:
     
  • Leased and rented South African retail outlets and any unlisted regional offices.
  • Non-South African offices (eg  Nedbank London).
  • South African and non-South African wholly or partially owned subsidiary companies.
  • Imperial Bank.
  • Emissions associated with the operation and service of automated teller machines (ATMs), self-service terminals (SSTs), point-of-sale (POS) and other remote devices.
  • Any other premises or activities owned or operated by Nedbank not explicitly referenced in this report.
     
     
     
     
     


    2008   2007   2007  
      restated*   report  
  Total occupied floor space of reported buildings 283 953m² **   261 450m² **   272 006 m²**  
  Fulltime employees (FTE) included in the GHG calculations 15 416   14 203   14 203  
  Total number of fulltime employees *** 26 422   25 518   21 581  
  Percentage of all employees covered by the report 58,35%   55,66%   65,81%  
* Subsequent to the production of the 2007 emissions report, data has been collected and made available to enable the inclusion of emissions associated with additional premises and scope 3 activities. To provide meaningful year-on-year performance comparison the 2007 base year data is restated herein.
** Building floor space recalculated according to the area actually occupied by Nedbank. Electricity consumption and key indicators are calculated for actual office space employed. The 2008 figure includes the floor space for organic expansion into new offices and the owned retail outlets.
*** Includes all South African fulltime employees, but excludes the fulltime employees of Imperial Bank.


Nedbank Group greenhouse gas emissions inventory
  2008  2007  2007 
 Scope   restated*   
 Scope 1: Direct emissions from: 1 222,08  694,85  572,51 
 Fuel used in equipment owned or controlled by Nedbank      
 (eg generators)  717,47  419,72  408,34 
 Airconditioning and refrigeration gas refills ** 380,79  140,18  140,18 
 Nedbank fleet of vehicles 123,82  134,95  23,99 
 Scope 2: Indirect emissions from:      
 Purchased electricity 95 749,74  96 361,71  95 929,14 
 Total Scope 1 and 2 emissions 96 971,82  97 056,56  96 501,65 
 Scope 3 – Indirect emissions from: 32 930,69  31 483,31  26 695,76 
 Business travel in rental cars 371,53  498,59  351,07 
 Business travel in commercial airlines 5 574,51  7 790,61  7 467,45 
 Business travel in employee-owned cars 2 203,98  2 244,13  N/A 
 Employee commuting 21 600,95  17 665,83  16 916,53 
 Consumption of office paper 3 179,72  3 284,15  1 960,71 
 Total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (GHG Protocol) 129 902,51  128 539,87  123 197,41 
 Non-Kyoto Protocol GHG emissions 1 407,46  1 406,38  1 396,50 
 Total Nedbank emissions CO²e (metric tons) 131 309,97  129 946,25  124 593,91 
       
 %CO²e Emissions according to GHG Protocol      
 Scope 1  0,93%  0,53%  0,46% 
 Scope 2 72,92%  74,16%  76,99% 
 Scope 1 and 2 73,85%  74,69%  77,45% 
 Scope 3 26,15%  25,31%  22,55% 
* Subsequent to the production of the 2007 GHG emissions report, data has been collected and made available to enable the inclusion of emissions associated with additional premises and scope 3 activities. To provide meaningful year-on-year emissions comparison, 2007 base year is restated with the inclusion of emissions for them, where available.
** Airconditioning and refrigeration gas use calculations are wholly dependent upon data from external service providers. It is understood that the gas consumption data for 2007 is incomplete, but that we have been unable to obtain revised information.

Nedbank Group performance targets

  % progress       
  from 2007  2008  2007  2007 
 Key performance indicators restated    restated   
 Total emissions co²e (metric tons) 1,05%  131 309,97  129 946,25  124 593,91 
 Emissions per fulltime employee (FTE) (6,89)%  8,52  9,15  8,77 
 Emissions per m² (8,00)%  0,46  0,50  0,46 
 Energy        
 Consumption in kwh  (4,76)%  95 749 743  100 533 871  99 926 192 
 Consumption in kwh, per FTE (12,25)%  6 211  7 078  7 036 
 Paper        
 Tons used  (3,76)%  1 025  1 065  946 
 Usage per FTE (11,33)%  0,0665  0,0750  0,0666 
 Business travel – (kilometers)        
 In commercial airlines  (12,33)%  49 195 392  56 111 798  63 342 691 
 In commercial airlines, per FTE (19,24)%  3 191  3 951  4 460 
 In rental cars (31,72)%  1 996 987  2 924 524  1 618 996 
 In rental cars, per FTE (36,89)%  130  206  114 

It is to be noted that although the absolute metric tons of CO²e emissions increased by 1,05% due to organic growth from 2007 to 2008, the emissions per fulltime employee(FTE) and per m² of occupied floor space have reduced by approximately 7% and 8% respectively.

Nedbank Group has succeeded in diminishing its impact on the environment, as is evidenced by the reducing emissions metrics year-on-year (allowing, where appropriate, for increases in reported scope and improvements in source data).

Nedbank acknowledges, however, that this is just the start of a journey that will require continuous improvement, and it is to this end that Nedbank set intensity reduction targets in 2008 supported by specific performance targets and measures for 2009.

Improvements in Scope 1 and 2 emissions
Through engagement with service providers during 2008, Nedbank has secured much more robust and reliable data for the gases used in recharging refrigeration and airconditioning equipment and as a result, all reported Scope 1 and 2 emissions use reliable information sources and established mechanisms for measuring, recording and monitoring.
 
Direct energy consumption at facilities
Through the introduction of numerous energy efficiency initiatives undertaken during 2008, Nedbank Group has made significant strides in starting to reduce its electricity/energy consumption, particularly at the headoffice buildings, helping to limit a major, controllable, GHG emission source. The actual improvement is somewhat obscured in the GHG summary tables above due to the additions made to the project boundary and the sourcing improved data. The reduction in electrical energy use should also be viewed in conjunction with the increase in diesel consumption necessitated by power supply interruptions during 2008.

While emissions from mandatory reporting activities (Scope 1 and 2) have only reduced by 85 tCO²e (0,09%) year-on-year, comparison of emissions from diesel and electricity, thereby isolating direct energy consumption and providing a like-for-like comparison (adjusted for changes in Eskom’s emissions factor and eliminating the anomaly from refrigerants) would raise that saving to 4 058 tCO²e, or 4,18% year-on-year.

Fulltime employees (FTEs)
Fulltime employee (FTE) count has increased due to organic growth at headoffice buildings (+877) plus employees occupying the buildings covered by the broader 2008 operational boundary (+336 retail employees).
 
Scope 3 emissions
Commercial business travel
Emissions from business travel fell significantly year-on-year, with emissions from rental cars falling by 25% (distance reduced by 32%), while emissions from commercial flights were down by 28% (with some 5 000+ less flights taken in 2008 resulting in a reduction of 12% in passenger kilometres). Business travel in own cars

Business travel in own cars was incorporated in the carbon footprint calculation for the first time in this report, with highly reliable data provided for calculation of 2008 and restatement of 2007. This data reflects a year-on-year emissions reduction of 2%.

Paper consumption
Paper consumption reduced by 4% with the associated emissions falling by 3% year-on-year due to the mix of paper, ie recycled versus non-recycled paper.
 
Employee commuting
Emissions from commuting have increased as a direct consequence of the increased fulltime employee (FTE) count arising from organic growth at headoffice buildings (+877 ) and the inclusion of employees occupying the buildings covered by the broader 2008 operational boundary (+336 retail employees).