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When Div saw his mum storing food parcel containers and liquid containers for future use, his mind suddenly clicked. “I started to research about food-grade plastic containers and was surprised to learn that most are food-grade and can be re-used. Now I am using food containers as pots to grow my greens.”

From spinach to purple basil. Lemon grass to kale, okra, tomato and mint. Div is growing a variety of vegetables on his balcony. He’s also using compost from kitchen waste, including brown coconut husk (cocopeat) as mediums to grow his micro greens.

We also have Federica whose ecological journey began when she started scuba diving years ago. While exploring the wonderful marine life, Federica became aware of problems like plastic pollution and overfishing. She started supporting and then fundraising for charities such as the Marine Conservation Society UK, and has never looked back since. At home, she also seeks to strike a balance between managing a family and implementing small changes that – she hopes – can bring about a long-term effect. “For over a year, we’ve been having our fresh juice and milk delivered (in electric vans) in reusable glass bottles. Besides making fresh yoghurt, I also make my own soap, and use a lot of refillable household cleaning products, which all help in reducing single-use plastic found in these everyday items,” she says.

Div, Federica, Annabella and Pearlynn are four of many employees across our firm who’re sharing their personal and professional knowledge during our first global �۶���Ƶ Zero Waste Week. Their sessions are complemented by panel discussions and keynote events with internal and external sustainability experts and �۶���Ƶ Global Visionaries. “It’s truly heartening to see the high-level of engagement from our colleagues during Zero Waste Week. Creating awareness of how we can reduce our impact on the environment is important. 

Every little thing helps when it comes to tackling global climate change,” adds Sue Ann, one of our Zero Waste Week organizers. Across the globe, our employees can engage in almost 100 virtual events and deepen their knowledge of environmental topics and innovative ways to reduce waste and their carbon footprint across seven key areas: consumption, energy, food, paper, plastic, travel and water.

As a firm, we continuously seek to increase recycling and the use of environmentally friendly products as well as the efficiency of our energy and water use, decreasing waste, paper usage, business travel and employee commuting. We’ve set ourselves ambitious targets relating to these environmental areas. Tracking the relevant indicators and taking appropriate measures to achieve our targets are elements of our global environmental management system – and last year, we celebrated 20 years since becoming the first bank to gain ISO 14001 certification for it and got recertified this year. In 2019, we were also named best performer in the diversified financial services and capital markets industry category for the fifth consecutive year in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index – the most widely recognized corporate sustainability rating.

Last year, we focused our efforts to reduce single-use (plastic) items globally across the firm. We eliminated disposable coffee and water cups in office kitchens with a limited number of compostable coffee cups being made available if necessary. We're also checking every single product in our purchasing catalogs, and have already started replacing hundreds of products with more sustainable alternatives – or even removing them completely. With all these activities, we are looking to drastically reduce our amount of waste, specifically the plastic and non-recyclable material found in all our locations worldwide.

We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and make an effort to go beyond our duty to protect the environment. Zero Waste Week is an example of the commitment of our employees and the firm to support the UN Sustainability Development Goals.