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228 Part 1 Introduction

Box 4.6 HSBC customers plant virtual forest

HSBC has committed to improving the environment since it became a climate-neutral
company globally in November 2005. Through the use of green technologies and
emission-offset trading, HSBC counteracts all CO emissions generated by its building
2
operations and corporate travel. In 2006, 35% of operations in North America were
offset by investments in Renewable Energy Certificates from wind power alone.
Another aspect of HSBC green policy is its online banking service, where it encour-
ages paperless billing. For example, in the UK in 2007, over 400,000 customers switched
from paper statements to online delivery, creating a virtual tree each time (Figure 4.10),
and for every 20 virtual trees, HSBC promised to plant a real one.

HSBC virtual forest
Figure 4.10 Source: www.hsbc.co.uk

Potentially, online shopping through transactional e-commerce can also have environment
benefits. Imagine a situation where we no longer travelled to the shops, and 100% of items
were efficiently delivered to us at home or at work. This would reduce traffic considerably!
Although this situation is inconceivable since most of us enjoy shopping in the real world
too much, online shopping is growing considerably and it may be having an impact.
Research by the Internet Media in Retail Group (www.imrg.org) shows the growing impor-
tance of e-commerce in the UK where over 10% of retail sales are now online. In 2007
IMRG launched a Go Green, Go Online campaign where it identified six reasons why it
believes e-commerce is green. They are:
1 Less vehicle-miles. Shopping is the most frequent reason for car travel in the UK,
accounting for 20% of all trips, and for 12% of mileage. A study by the Swiss online grocer
LeShop.ch calculated that each time a customer decides to buy online rather than go shop-
ping by car, 3.5 kg of CO emissions are saved.
2