Halifax Websaver turns a pale shade of green

Rachel Thrusell, Head of savings at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments: “By the end of the year, new and existing Halifax Websaver customers will see their accounts ‘carbon labelled’. With green becoming the new black in financial services, providers are becoming increasingly innovative and creative in ways which they can display the green badge.

“Carbon labelling is being used for the first time in the financial service sector: basically this means the account will include a green logo and customers will be informed of the carbon emissions produced by opening and operating the account. To maintain this badge, Halifax has pledged to reduce the carbon emissions of this account within a two-year period.

“In principle the idea should receive praise, as any commitment to reduce carbon emissions is a step in the right direction. However, the account Halifax has focused on is web based and probably already one of their ‘greenest’ products so without a committing to a specified reduction target, the Halifax Websaver is a somewhat pale shade of green.

“Each year we all receive around 400 pieces of unsolicited junk mail - 100m trees are used each year to make junk mail and 44% of it goes straight into the rubbish bin unread. Perhaps institutions should be taking steps to reduce the amount of unsolicited mail sent, with a move towards internet based messaging or mailing. It’s likely to have a more significant impact on the environment than trying to use labels and schemes, which only muddy the green waters.”