Sustainable operations are an important part of ABN AMRO’s strategy, and our activities increasingly reflect our ethical, social and ecological policies. Take, for example, our plain language campaign, our transparent conditions, our sustainable HR policy and our commitment to reducing our ecological footprint. All of these contribute to responsible core activities and help us make a direct and positive impact on society.
We are working hard to reduce and improve the bank’s footprint. In the years ahead, we will continue to decrease our energy, water and paper consumption. Together with our suppliers, we are also reducing our CO2 emission levels by implementing sustainable transportation and waste policies. As a result of improved efficiency in our operations and equipment as well as our greener buildings, the level of our overall energy consumption decreased by 16% in 2013.
ABN AMRO seeks to contribute to society by purchasing sustainably. We use products and services that are not harmful to people and planet and encourage our suppliers to do business responsibly. In doing so, we improve on two fronts: we make our own business operations more sustainable and we strengthen the impact we have through our purchasing partners. This is a continuous process towards creating a more sustainable supply chain.
We are aware that we will only be able to meet our sustainability targets if we have everyone’s support within the bank. This is why we are integrating our sustainability strategy into our leadership programmes, traineeships and recruitment activities. We have set practical targets which challenge our staff to contribute and help everyone feel responsible. On top of that, we are in the process of creating tools to measure those results and monitor progress more easily.
