Risk and responsibility

A growing number of banks are producing sustainability reports detailing their environmental and socially responsible initiatives. Is this just slick PR or has sustainability become an important risk management consideration? Clive Davidson investigates

Last month, HSBC announced it had gone 'carbon-neutral' – it had cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to zero by a combination of reducing energy consumption, buying electricity from non-CO2 emitting sources (so-called green energy), and investing in projects such as reforestation that absorb the equivalent of its outstanding emissions.

Elsewhere, after publishing a sustainability report in July that is widely acknowledged to set a benchmark for disclosure, Manchester-based Co-operative