Sydbank will be re­spect­ful of the en­vi­ron­ment in all aspects of its business and make a positive dif­fer­ence in order to reach its own, national and global climate targets. We optimise energy ef­fi­ciency on an ongoing basis to reduce the Bank’s energy con­sump­tion and high priority is given to ensuring trans­parent reporting of our con­sump­tion.

Target: 75% reduction in CO₂e from own op­er­a­tions in 2030 compared to emissions in 2019.

It is not enough to help our customers finance energy efficient solutions. We must also of course reduce CO₂e emissions from our own op­er­a­tions.

Con­se­quently at Sydbank we have set a target to reduce CO₂e emissions from our own op­er­a­tions.

The target concerns the Bank’s own internal op­er­a­tions and includes direct as well as indirect emissions. Direct CO₂e emissions – scope 1 emissions – consist of emissions from prop­er­ties owned or leased by Sydbank as well as transport in Sydbank’s cars. Indirect CO₂e emissions – scope 2 emissions – consist of con­sump­tion of energy purchased that is used to produce elec­tric­ity, district heating and district cooling. CO₂e emissions are cal­cu­lated according to the Green­house Gas Protocol. The year of com­par­i­son as regards the target is the CO₂e footprint at year-end 2019.

Sydbank strives to lower the Bank’s con­sump­tion by focusing on energy op­ti­mi­sa­tion. The Bank keeps track of con­sump­tion by means of an energy man­age­ment tool that monitors 95% of the Bank’s building stock. The tool sends a warning if there are vari­a­tions in readings, for instance con­stantly high con­sump­tion or in­suf­fi­cient data – and more than 1,100 alarms are linked to the system.

Sydbank focuses on energy op­ti­mi­sa­tion in order to reduce actual con­sump­tion. In order to reach its target Sydbank plans to set up ad­di­tion­al solar cell systems and implement new tech­nolo­gies to control ven­ti­la­tion, heat and cooling systems.

Sydbank does not regard climate com­pen­sa­tion as a first choice or licence to emit CO₂e. First and foremost the Bank strives to reduce its emissions as much as possible by means of measures that reduce actual con­sump­tion. So carbon off­set­ting is not a long-term solution but an existing al­ter­na­tive aid. We purchase elec­tric­ity generated by modern Danish wind turbines to offset the Bank’s un­avoid­able CO₂e emissions from elec­tric­ity. 

• Read more about Sydbank’s efforts to ensure a re­spon­si­ble climate footprint in “A Decent Bank” in the Annual Report.