Conserving resources and taking action to generate environmental awareness among employees, customers and suppliers is what has driven us over the past several years to create a strategy for environmental responsibility.
In 2014, we worked to introduce new into Grupo Financiero Banorte’s environmental policy, in order to support our environmental initiatives commitments with our stakeholders, which has been approved and backed by the areas involved and by the Sustainability Work Group.
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Today we have a restructured environmental policy that aligns with ISO 14000 Standards and aspires to meet all its requirements in the long term through a review of the following aspects:
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In addition, as supporting documentation for the policy, we have created a matrix for identification, evaluation and classification of environmental impacts that will allow us to determine the origin and priority of the most relevant environmental aspects on which to focus projects of action and mitigation. So far, we have identified a total of 128 environmental impacts classified according to scale, relevance, scope, frequency and reversibility.
Conscious of the importance of the use of energy in our operations; a continuous follow-up on our energy efficiency programs and actions allows us to mitigatie the environmental impact they generate.
In order to consume less energy, we have initiatives such as the installation of solar panels in two Banorte branches: Queretaro and Guanajuato, as well as the installation of Banorte’s integral energy control system (SICE), which replaces current air conditioners with more efficient ones on the basis of age, in addition to installing lighting and air conditioning control programs.
Accumulated monetary savings, thanks to the SICE project, totaled Ps 116.5 million since its inception in 2007 to date, generating a cumulative 67 million kW savings as well, representing a savings equivalent to 33,493 tons of CO2.
Currently more than 90% of Banorte branches have been integrated into this system, and we have established the goal of including 60 more branches in 2015. Up to now, our goal of reducing energy consumption was based reducing emissions per employee, aspiring to decrease emission intensity by 20%. As from 2015 our new goal is to reduce emissions per employee by 30% with respect to the base line from 2009. This goal aligns with the national strategy of reducing emissions by 30% from 2000 to 2020. For GFNorte, this implies a reduction per employee of approximately 13% with regards to emissions from 2014 to 2020.
In 2014, we participated in the Earth Hour initiative organized by the World Wildlife Fund, by turning off unessential lights in 5 buildings in the cities of Monterrey, Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico. Through internal communication we also encouraged the efficient use of energy and employee participation in the Earth Hour.
Our carbon footprint is calculated annually through a financial control approach using methodologies such as the corporate standard of accounting and reporting (ECCR), the Greenhouse Gas Effect Protocol (GHG Protocol) and national guidelines on the use of global warming potentials from the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). To support our data, since 2012 our carbon footprint has been verified by an external firm accredited by the EMA (Mexican accreditation entity).
We have also worked on increasing the scope of monitoring environmental indicators, in order to integrate them into the Sustainability Management System (SMS). In this respect, this year, emissions included emerging gases from refrigerants used in Annuities and Insurance that will be added in Banorte – Ixe’s next emissions report.
As a result of control and energy efficiency projects we have reduced the environmental impact of emissions generated by our operations, which has allowed us to meet our current target of decreasing intensity emissions per employee by 20% from the 2009 base line.
| BRANCHES IN THE SICE PROGRAM | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | New branches in SICE | Total of Banorte’s branches | Coverage of SICE Branches/ totals | Savings in millions of pesos | Savings in millions of kWh |
| 2012 | 168 | 1,142 | 72.42 | 20.4 | 11.5 |
| 2012 | 103 | 1,117 | 83.26 | 21.2 | 12.5 |
| 2012 | 78 | 1,110 | 90.81 | 22.6 | 13.3 |
| GLOBAL EMISSIONS IN TONS OF CO2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit | 2013 | 2014 | |||||||
| Scope 1 emissions |
Scope 2 emissions |
Scope 3 emissions |
Total emissions | Scope 1 emissions |
Scope 2 emissions |
Scope 3 emissions |
Total emissions | Variation % | |
| Banorte - Ixe Securities International | n/a | 36.22 | n/a | 36.22 | n/a | 26.97 | 13.36 | 40.33 | 11.35 ▲ |
| Inter National Bank | 69.83 | 2,613.52 | n/a | 2,683.35 | 58.22 | 2,569.58 | n/a | 2,627.8 | -2.07 ▼ |
| Afore XXI Banorte | 245.52 | 1,129.94 | 396.07 | 1,771.53 | 218.12 | 1,392.02 | 366.94 | 1,977.08 | 11.60 ▲ |
| Almacenadora Banorte | 160.11 | 124.67 | n/a | 284.78 | 106.61 | 118.36 | n/a | 224.97 | -21.00 ▼ |
| Arrendadora y Factor Banorte | 134.17 | n/a | 75.9 | 210.07 | 119.69 | n/a | 50.73 | 170.42 | -18.87 ▼ |
| Banorte - Ixe | 1,327.82 | 59,435.40 | n/a | 60,763.22 | 1,483.14 | 56,858.18 | 761.54 | 59,102.86 | -2.85* ▼ |
| -4.10** ▼ | |||||||||
| Pensiones y Seguros Banorte | 2,083.65 | 2,286.66 | n/a | 4,370.31 | 2,142.37 | 1,796.25 | n/a | 3,938.62 | -9.88 ▼ |
| Grupo Financiero Banorte | 4,021.10 | 59,435.40 | 471.97 | 70,119.48 | 4,128.15 | 62,761.36 | 1,192.57 | 68,082.08 | -2.91* ▼ |
| -3.96** ▼ | |||||||||
| Coverage (employees) | Emission Scopes 1 and 2 in 2013 take into account: (1) Banoret-Ixe Securities has no car fleet, (2) Arrendadora y Factor Banorte conducts its business in the Banorte - Ixe building. A3 Emissions: 18.99% in 2013 and 91.85% in 2014. *Sum includes Scope 3 **Sum excludes Scope 3 Indirect emissions from electrical consumption in Mexico for 2013 change with respect to the Annual Report for that same year, due to recalculation with updated factors from the GEI Mexico program. |
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In 2014, GFNorte held 30,330 videoconferences, which represents an increase of 38% compared to last year. In addition, an estimated 223,368.05 km of travel avoided through videoconferences for Arrendadora y Factor and Banorte - Ixe Securities, which represent a savings of Ps 2,842,365.19 considering the average travel expenses per trip in the year. On the other hand, Ps 10,349,785 were invested in Banorte to renovate four videoconferencing rooms and to create four additional VC rooms.
Since April, a new tool was included within the SAP module to calculate the kilometers traveled by air as a result of corporate travel done by our banking sector employees. In 2014, more than 8.27 million kilometers were registered, the equivalent of 761.5 tons of CO2 emitted.
This reporting is complemented by Banorte - Ixe Securities, along with Afore XXI and Arrendadora y Factor, registering 2,535,864 kilometres travelled by plane – the equivalent of 431 tons of CO2. These businesses employ 15.53% of the financial group’s personnel.
Thanks to internal initiatives for communication and active monitoring a savings of 36% was achieved in 2014 over the base year corresponding to the corresponding program for each area. Estimated savings totaled Ps 1.15 million. The goal of a 50% reduction set in 2011 was not achieved due to the notable increase of customers and employees, as well as the merger with Ixe. Given the above, it was decided to rethink Paperless targets for 2015, establishing a gradual goal by 2020 of a 15% reduction in paper consumed per employee in the Banking Sector compared to 2014.
In 2014, more than 121 tons of paper and cardboard was recycled, which represents 150% more than last year and an estimated economic return of Ps 221,114. The program added 6 more administrative buildings for a total of 13. The recycling program benefited over 6,000 employees in 2014, representing 28% of Banorte’s personnel; compared to 2013, this was an 18% increased in benefits to employees.
As part of the campaign to reuse tokens, in 2014, 11,000 devices were reintroduced into our operations and in 2015, 22,086 will be shipped to a recycling plant to recover components. These 33,086 tokens represent 28% of our customers’ expired tokens in 2014.
The disposal of waste generated in Banorte - Ixe is a relevant topic in our operations. In 2014 it was estimated that 3,247.15 tons of solid waste was generated.
We continued in 2014 with our initiative of supporting the “Recycle your World” program from the San Ignacio de Loyola foundation, for which we collected 21,160 kg of office waste in Banorte’s Torre Mayor and Mariano Escobedo buildings in Mexico City. The recovery of Ps $44,360.49 was donated, after operating expenses to the construction of a Community Center in La Gavilana, in the Sierra Tarahumara.
GFNorte’s paper consumption increased by 2.53% to reach 1,121 tons. However, in the Banking Sector paper consumption in terms of tons of paper per employee was -3.32%.
On a global scale, the increase was due in part to the need of Afore XXI to provide more detailed account statements to customers. In addition, the increase in paper use in offices of this business unit was due to sales offices to affiliate and transfer customers. In addition to this, in 2014 Banorte - Ixe implemented a long-term strategy called Contrato Múltiple (multiple contract). It is hoped that this has positive effects on cross-sales and paper consumption, as the contract is only printed once and in future acquisition product contracts only the cover sheet is printed.
The estimated water consumption in 2014 was 536,054.79 m3, which represents a decrease of 8.81% from last year. The scope of this report increased to 99% with the inclusion of Afore XXI, for a total of 545,361.92 m3. Water consumed in the Group’s operations comes from and is channeled back to municipal networks. In 2015 the target goal will be established for water consumption by 2020.
The green roof located on top of the “Roberto González Barrera” Contact Center in Monterrey, N.L. has an area of 2,650 m2, of which 1,784 m2 is landscaped. On this rooftop 72 species are preserved of which 18 endangered species are listed in the NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 for the protection of flora and wildlife.
Since 2014, an environmental education program has been taught on the green roof to educate employees on biodiversity, food safety, climate change, water and desert, green cities, plant and herb collections. The program includes conferences, craft workshops, tours and reflective activities that aim to raise awareness among our stakeholders of the importance of sustainability. By December 2014, the rooftop had received a total of 868 visitors from different educational systems.
A donation of 1,500 hectares in the State of Sonora was made to the Naturalia A.C. institution to support jaguar preservation. During the ceremony, attended by Banorte clients and employees, an art auction was held marking the beginning of actions that will contribute to generate financial resources for the long-term management and protection of this reserve. Additionally, Banorte will work with Naturalia in developing various initiatives to protect the Reserva Jaguar del Norte and the jaguar as a species.
The implementation of a Sustainability Management System (SMS) was completed for the collection, validation, monitoring and analysis of environmental, social and economic performance indicators within the financial group. The platform was launched in October and, over the course of the last quarter of the year, 40 users were trained to enter more than 250 data related to environmental indicators.
The costs to treat and mitigate emissions in 2014 totaled Ps 21,367,398.00 for the construction, renovation and maintenance of videoconferencing rooms that will reduce emissions generated by corporate travel.
On the other hand, total investment for the environmental management and prevention was Ps 3,227,159.44, which includes the purchase of plants and materials for the green roof, as well as its maintenance and the implementation of the educational program. Invesments in the SMS platform for the management of sustainability indicators and in theverification of our greenhouse gas emissions inventory are also considered.