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Reducing Our Own Carbon Footprint

Combating climate change requires reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At Bank of America, we have confronted this environmental challenge by studying every aspect of our operations through the lens of our emissions footprint, and then setting aggressive reduction targets. We are now committed to reducing our company-wide greenhouse gas emissions 9 percent by 2009.

We were the first financial institution to make a formal commitment to the EPA Climate Leaders program and protocol to reduce our emissions. We also made an additional commitment on emissions reduction through the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Achieving such substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions is a difficult task because these emissions are intrinsic to just about every aspect of an enterprise.

We began by working with partners, vendors and the non-governmental organization (NGO) community. Together we determined that energy, heating and cooling, commuting by our associates and paper consumption were the areas of our operation that contributed the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions.

We next implemented a variety of measures, including strategic capital improvements and investments, to address and minimize these impacts. We recognized that energy consumption was the best place to start to reduce emissions -- and the quickest way to save money.

To address other climate impact areas, we established initiatives that directly involve our associates and their individual greenhouse gas footprint. For example, we provide our associates with a number of commuting options, such as our hybrid vehicle reimbursement program. Under our My Work® initiative, we're studying the environmental impact of a virtual workplace. In addition, part of our $1.4 billion commitment to build new LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified banking centers and other offices involves locating those facilities in close proximity to mass transit.

We've also looked at the role paper consumption has on the environment. To reduce our greenhouse gas footprints associated with the manufacture, transport, use and disposal of paper, as well as to lessen the impacts of the paper industry on forests, we have implemented programs designed to eliminate the use of paper wherever possible.