FINspeak

Since September 15th 2008, we’ve witnessed banks fail, banks be bailed out by the government, banks de-leverage, and banks promise to avoid bad investments.  As the banking world has become increasingly scrutinized, all business decisions and investments have been well publicized and well criticized by the media, government, and citizens alike.  In this push to return to more sustainable levels of leverage, banks have cut budgets, eliminated bonuses, and apprehensively made new investments.

However, I recently discovered that a handful of banks are making very smart investments—investments in green, sustainable technology to reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs.  Just last month, the Bank of New York Mellon installed a 76 Kilowatt solar panel system at its office in Massachusetts.  The bank hopes to reduce its energy costs by $15,000 per year while significantly diminishing the environmental impact of its office. Clearly, the solar panel system, with the potential for a positive ROI, is a safe environmental investment.

Joining the Bank of New York Mellon is HSBC who installed 617 square meters of photovoltaic panels at its office in Canary Wharf, London. Next time I am near a window at my office in Canary Wharf, I will have to take a peek and see if I can notice the shimmer of solar panels at the HSBC Tower. 

I’m happy to see that banks are beginning to make investments in green technology to reduce their own carbon footprint.  While financial institutions certainly are drivers of the economy, I can’t wait until they are the drivers of green technology as well.

To learn more about solar panel projects, check out the article about HSBC and the article about the Bank of New York Mellon.