Halifax carbon labels Web Saver

Halifax has launched the Carbon Trust's pilot carbon reduction label for the Halifax Web Saver account, one of the group's most popular savings products with more than 1.1 million accounts.

It is believed that Halifax is the first financial services institution in Europe to carbon label one of its products.

What carbon labelling means for Web Saver customers

Web Saver is an online product and the carbon footprint for the average account has been calculated with the Carbon Trust to stand at 204g of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Halifax has committed to reducing these emissions within two years. If a reduction is not achieved, the label will be withdrawn.

The pilot carbon reduction label is displayed on the Halifax Web Saver online site and shows existing and potential customers how much greenhouse gas emissions their account produces from the initial application and customers' transactions.

The carbon footprint calculated includes carbon emissions both from opening the account and the annual use of the account. Carbon emissions from opening the account have been split over a five-year period in order to calculate an average annual carbon emission figure.

The Carbon Trust is working with DEFRA and BSI British Standards to develop a single standard to measure the embodied greenhouse gas emissions from products and services. The Carbon Trust is working with a number of pilot partners including Halifax to develop this standard and the carbon reduction label.

A market-leading product

A market-leading savings account, Web Saver has attracted many best buy mentions:
Since January 2006, Web Saver has received 375 'best buy' mentions
It is a simple online savings account offering tiered interest rates. The more you save, the more interest you earn
Earn a rate of up to 5.35%AER without a cash card on a balance of £25,000+ for each Web Saver account
Open from as little as £1 (or £10+ for Web Saver with cash card option)
Check your balance, pay bills and withdraw money by transferring to another account online
Split your savings over more than one account (up to a maximum of 5) and call them whatever you like, e.g. holiday, university, car
Interest paid annually

Mike Regnier, Head of Savings at Halifax, said: "With today's launch of our carbon label for Web Saver, we are committed to reducing the product's carbon emissions within two years. We are proud to be working with the Carbon Trust to make that commitment, and believe we are the first bank in Europe to carbon label one its products."

Euan Murray, General Manager of Footprinting at the Carbon Trust, said: "We are pleased to award Halifax's Web Saver account with a carbon reduction label. This demonstrates Halifax's willingness to tackle the climate change impacts of its services and help its customers better understand the impact of banking products on climate change."