Morgan Stanley and HSBC use tech to boost environmental credentials

Banks have long been associated with taking a less-than-sympathetic standpoint on environmental issues -- not least on account of their huge paper consumption. The message appears to at last be getting through, though, with the top financial institutions all working hard to boost their green credentials by using technology to reduce their environmental impact.

Speaking at BT's Green Bank event in London this week, chief information officer of Morgan Stanley, Jonathan Saxe, said that his bank for one is using various approaches to improve its environmental standings. One of its main aims is to reduce CO2 emissions by 10 per cent over the next five years. Measures are already in place on the IT side of the business, including encouraging staff to turn off their PCs at night and making greater use of videoconferencing to cut down on travel.

In response to the great paper debate, Morgan Stanley has also switched to using printers that print on both sides to halve the amount of paper used. Personal carbon calculators for employees are also available on the internal website, while work is going into the bank's supplier and vendor ecosystem to implement green issues into contracts.

Another bank already known for doing its bit for the environment is HSBC. According to Jon Williams, head of group sustainable development, HSBC became the world's first carbon-neutral bank in October 2005 and has opened its own 150-megawatt wind farm in Wales.

Other HSBC initiatives include a zero-carbon branch in New York, and wind and solar energy trials at its UK training centre at Bricket Wood. The high-street bank also partakes in the international carbon exchange programme, buying 813,000 carbon credits in 2006 to cancel out its own carbon emissions.

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