ENVIRONMENT

At Eurobank, all environmental issues are assigned to an Environmental/Sustainability Committee, in which the heads of all the Bank's units involved in the implementation of environmental policy take part, to ensure strategic coordination of policies and environmental management actions.
 

Group Environment & Quality Division (GEQD) is responsible for the consistent and integrated day-to-day management and implementation of environmental policies and procedures, for the fulfillment of pertinent objectives and for the coordination of the proper operation of the Environmental Management Systems (EMS) throughout the Group. Moreover, it provides support, expertise and audit coordination for other management systems such as Quality Management Systems, Information Technology Services, Societal Security-Business Continuity and Operational Health and Safety. In addition, Environmental Officers are appointed to both central administration units and branches, who are responsible for the environmental management system’s smooth operation and for relevant indicators monitoring. An Environmental Officers meeting is taking place in an annual basis to highlight the issues on which decisions will be taken on Environmental/Sustainability Committee.
 

Having identified the direct and indirect environmental aspects and by implementing a number of environmental programs (such as recycling, energy saving, etc.) designed to reduce the environmental footprint, the Bank applies a green procurement policy, recognizes the environmental risks of its customers, promotes green products and supports environmental protection programs through sponsorships and partnerships with Non Governmental Organizations.

A tailor-made software application has been developed in order to monitor the environmental management, which brings together data of the Branches’ environmental performance and the findings of internal audits that allows environmental data management, collected from a large number of sites, branches and different units of the group. It calculates the environmental profile of each branch separately, according to its environmental indicators performance, the most important of which is the energy consumption index. The communication and information feedback between the unit responsible and all the branches and units, aiming their continuous improvement, is constant and continual. Environmental indicators are collected every six months in order for corrective and preventive actions to be made in time to fulfill targets. The environmental performance is verified annually by an accredited Certification Body and communicated through the Bank’s Environmental Report.

It is worth pointing out that Eurobank is the first bank in Greece certified (2004) in accordance with the International Standard ISO 14001 and registered (2009) in the European Register (EMAS) of Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change implementing an EMS. For the specialized needs of its subsidiaries abroad (Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria), local Environmental Offices have been created to maintain close cooperation with the GEQD. An assessment tool, for the integration progress and the relevant environmental programs and initiatives of the subsidiaries’ EMS determine the action planning for the improvement of their environmental profile.