Last Updated on Friday, 5 June, 2020 at 9:29 am by Andre Camilleri
Bank of Valletta has over the past years embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at reducing the impact of business activities on the environment. These initiatives were mainly focused on energy and water use, waste management, recycling and emissions.
During the last year, the Bank ramped up its use of renewable energy, as part of its commitment towards safeguarding the environment. The air-conditioning system of its Santa Venera Head Office was replaced with a free-cooling one with most of the energy being generated from external air. In just two months, the Head Office energy consumption decreased by around 162,000 k/watts less when compared with the same period of the previous year.
The Bank continued with its installation of Photo Voltaic panels with 517 panels installed on 22 of its buildings. Over the summer months it is calculated that from just one branch, the Bank saves 6,000 k/watts as a result of the energy generated by the PV panels. Over a period of twelve months, Bank of Valletta generated a total of 129,394 clean units, saving around 50,000 kg of CO2 emissions.
Most of the Bank’s offices have energy-efficient lighting systems that eliminate electricity wastage through sensors which automatically switch off light in empty offices. Rain water is collected in a reservoir, built for this purpose at its Head Office, and recycled. In an effort to further reduce emissions, the Bank is also gradually replacing its car fleet to a cleaner hybrid one.
“At Bank of Valletta we are very conscious of our responsibility towards the environment and this can be seen through our initiatives. We strive to minimise the impact on our environment by reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible,” stated Ernest Agius, BOV Chief Operations Officer. “Our BOV policies embrace Green Procurement commitment which integrates environmental considerations into all stages of the purchasing process, from avoiding unnecessary purchases and identifying greener products to the specifications used in contracts and whole life costing. We are very happy that over this last year we managed to reduce, reuse and recycle so much, however we will not stop here and we will continue with our drive for a cleaner and greener bank.”
