In the context of the environmental policy, it has adopted and consistently implements over the past five years, Eurobank EFG takes part in “Earth Hour” and supports this important symbolic initiative.
The “Earth Hour” is a global effort in which hundreds of millions of people in more than 64 countries turn off the lights in their houses for 1 hour, once a year. The objective of this initiative is to show that a simple, everyday action, such as pressing a switch, can decisively contribute to energy savings.
Thus, on Saturday, 28 March 2009 and at 20:30, we will symbolically turn off the lights for one hour in the central administration buildings of Eurobank EFG in Athens and Thessaloniki. In parallel, the Bank provided its employees with a comprehensive briefing onthe initiative, to raise awareness and participation.
Climate change is one of the major environmental problems and energy consumption is directly linked to this. Realizing the importance of this problem, since 2004 Eurobank EFG has been implementing a program to monitor, evaluate and improve consumption indexes.
As a result of this program , in 2008 consumption of energy per square meter was reduced by 5% through a number of measures and actions, such as:
- Upgrading of the system for monitoring electricity consumption in branches and administration buildings to identify and reduce high consumption.
- Lighting was reduced by 50% in naturally illuminated office spaces in administration buildings and a pilot program was implemented to achieve energy savings of 75% in the car park of the Nea Ionia complex and the Bodossakis Foundation building. In parallel, a central lighting management system (BMS) was installed in the Nea Ionia complex.
- The replacement of illuminated signs was expanded to 46 additional branches in our network with NEON lights with low energy consumption.
- We continued the replacement of older non-eco-friendly air conditioning systems with 40 new high-energy class systems.
- We achieved a 50% reduction of cooling power during the summer months and at peak times, in many buildings with cooling units.
- We published the “Decalogue of Energy Saving” to encourage colleagues to participate in the program through small changes in everyday office habits, such as the rational use of lighting, air conditioning and electronic devices.
The program continues, aiming to improve the relevant indices, in the context of the ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System applied.
Finally, it should be noted that the systematic efforts of all Bank departments for the consolidation and development of a single environmental awareness policy have led to Eurobank EFG being recently included in the European Register of Businesses EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) that observes the relevant European Regulation on Environmental Management.