Company

Charlotte Business Journal; January 19, 2007:

Memo to employees of Charlotte's mega banks: Don't leave your lights on any longer than you have to.

Both Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. are taking steps that would make Al Gore proud by setting voluntary goals to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions, largely through energy reduction at their branches, office buildings and other real estate holdings.

BofA plans to reduce the emissions from its operations 9% by 2009. The bank, which had lowered those emissions by 4% through 2005, is on target to reach its goal, says spokeswoman Eloise Hale.

Wachovia Corp. announced in the fall it would work to lower its carbon dioxide emissions 10% by 2010.

"We feel that it's certainly attainable, but it's not going to be easy for us," says Pat Mumford, who heads the bank's environmental affairs group. He recently hired a "climate change manager" to track energy usage and cost and to educate employees about how their personal habits impact greenhouse emissions.

Such gases are blamed for global warming and are partly the result of the use of coal to generate electricity, which releases carbon dioxide. Cutting electric consumption should mean fewer emissions and help reduce climate change.

These steps are part of larger environmental strategies the two companies have adopted, Wachovia more recently than BofA.

Under pressure from environmental groups and socially responsible investors, the banks have become more vocal about their environmental policies, including who they won't lend to (companies that clear tropical forests, for example), how they build and design their office towers and even how much paper they recycle each year.

BofA and Wachovia are in the midst of building environmentally friendly towers in New York and Charlotte. BofA's 945-foot tower in midtown Manhattan is being billed as the world's most environmentally responsible high-rise office building.

The company intends for the building to win the highest level of certification by the Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

The tower, constructed largely from recycled and recyclable materials, will feature environmental technologies such as insulated floor-to-ceiling windows and LED lights that automatically dim during the daytime.

In Charlotte, BofA and Wachovia have unveiled plans for office towers that will be built to earn LEED gold certification, one step below the top level.

BofA is planning a 32-floor, $450 million tower at College and Fifth streets, which is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

Wachovia plans to complete its $880 million South Tryon tower by next year. The bank opened its first LEED-certified branch last year in Austin, Texas.

"This isn't standard operating procedure for design firms and engineers," Mumford says. "At some point, when there's more familiarity with it, this will be the norm, which is positive. The best way to reduce your energy consumption is to build these buildings efficiently from the beginning, which is what we're doing here."

Errors of emission

Wachovia laid out its environmental strategy for the first time in October, joining other big banks such as Citigroup Inc., BofA and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The comprehensive plan took two years to produce and is partly the result of prodding by environmental groups, Mumford says.

One group that Wachovia consulted, the Rainforest Action Network, had previously pushed Citi and BofA to adopt its earth-friendly policies. Based in San Francisco, RAN labeled Wachovia's plan a disappointment, citing its failure to address greenhouse-gas emissions by companies in its loan portfolio.

"It's great that they're trying to green themselves and address their internal greenhouse-gas emissions," says Dana Clark with RAN's global finance campaign. "The problem is that that's not the major impact they have. They're not taking any really serious steps to reduce the (emissions) of what they're funding."

The group also said Wachovia's policy on financing logging operations isn't strict enough. Mumford says the bank had a good dialogue with RAN and that the critique was not a surprise.

"You're not going to please everybody," he says, adding that Wachovia's policies will likely evolve over time. "We feel very good that we are going to be able to abide by what we put out there."

In 2004, when BofA unveiled its plan, the bank pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in its energy and utilities portfolio by 7% -- but did not specify a deadline.

Bank spokeswoman Hale says the bank requires its energy and utility customers to share data about their emissions when they take out a loan, and the bank then tracks that data over the life of the loan.

RAN's Clark says the company needs to follow through and demonstrate the results of its efforts with clients -- something she expects next year.

"There is a need for a bit more transparency from Bank of America about what they're doing to accomplish those objectives," she says. "The words on paper are an important step and a commitment, but what actually happens in practice is another important question."

 - Will Boye