Green, clean and mean!

The YouGov survey could not be timelier. Clearly there is an incentive in becoming a ‘green’ operation and reducing one’s carbon footprint - that of reputation.  Financial institutions are often considered by the general public to be greedy, non-caring organisations –  reducing their carbon footprint can help soften this image, provided organisations take action and don't just talk about it.

And now there is even more reason to be green – the economic reason.  Energy factors remain a significant cost to financial services companies – adding to their rising cost base, which is already exacerbated by rising bad debts and cost of debt collection and recovery. For financial institutions looking to reduce their costs, addressing the green issue is a positive course of action.

There has been much speculation about just how many jobs are likely to go in the City as the result of the credit crisis.  By viewing energy cost reduction as a favoured way of drawing in their horns rather than putting people out of a job must be a more acceptable route. Yes there are simple ways in which consumption can be curbed - switching off PCs, switching off lights, keeping windows shut in winter, and so on - but there are others too. How many organisations are running more servers than they need for their applications?  The benefit is not only related to having fewer servers, but a reduction in the cost of air conditioning as well. 

Clearly the financial investment required in some areas to control energy consumption is more than in others.  Any investment needs evaluation to ensure internal desired Return on Investments can be met. However, with high energy bills expected in the foreseeable future, that investment now could well pay dividends a lot sooner than anticipated!    A win – win- win situation.   The financial services company becomes green, clean and mean in one fail swoop.