Yorkshire Building Society announce new carbon neutral status

Yorkshire Building Society has achieved full carbon neutral status and has switched from its standard electricity supplier to ‘green electricity’ in all of its 131 branches across the UK.

Green electricity is generated from entirely renewable sources, such as wind and water, and should see the Society reduce its CO2 emissions by around 50% by the end of 2008.

80% of all energy used by Yorkshire Building Society will be switched to energy produced from renewable sources over the next four months. The remaining 20% of the energy used is from gas power.

Yorkshire has for a number of years been reducing its CO2 emissions, and whilst it has now achieved full carbon neutral status, accredited by the CarbonNeutral Company, it has a number of other initiatives planned aimed at continuing to reduce its carbon footprint. These include identifying further recycling opportunities, promoting lower CO2 and alternatively fuelled company vehicles and an awareness campaign amongst employees to encourage energy saving practices.

To attain carbon neutral status the Society has embarked on a programme for offsetting every tonne of CO2 emitted and reducing the same volume somewhere else in the world. This carbon credit scheme is popular with a number of responsible businesses around the world.

Mary Blackwell, Yorkshire’s Environment Manager said “As a mutual organisation it is important for us to be a responsible corporate citizen not only in the communities where we operate but also to the wider environment. Becoming carbon neutral is one way we have been able to demonstrate this and to announce our achievement today, World Environment Day, seems appropriate.

“We have agreed targets with the CarbonNeutral Company for reducing our carbon footprint year on year and I’m confident that we will achieve these goals. We have got lots of activities planned over the coming months, which will encourage staff to think green whilst at work and also at home. I’m determined that the effort we are putting in will make a real difference.”

Sue Welland, Founder & Creative Director of The CarbonNeutral Company said “We are delighted to be part of the CO2 reduction plan of Yorkshire Building Society. By switching to green electricity, the Society has made significant reductions at source, and the offset is being appropriately used as a complement to enable it to achieve a net zero footprint from today. This kind of complete commitment is what’s needed to effectively tackle climate change.”

Yorkshire Building Society launched its first Home Energy Efficiency Mortgage earlier this year. This is its first product in what is expected to be a suite of home loans from the Society that will focus on energy efficiency.