Co-op advises green policies for its rivals
8 May 2001

<http://www.efinancialnews.com>

The Co-operative Bank will urge rivals to adopt eco-friendly policies when it publishes an analysis of the costs and benefits of its ethical approach today.

The bank, owned by the Co-operative Group, believes it makes extra pre-tax profits of £14m (EUR22.6m)-£17m a year as a result of its environmental and ethical polices.

The bank said most businesses regarded green policies as prohibitively
expensive. But the extra cost of buying electricity generated in sustainable
ways - including from water flows through the locks of the Manchester Ship Canal - was only £41,000 a year.

In total, the bank spent an extra £792,000 last year to take ecologically
sound options, with most of that going on eco-friendly air conditioning
units.

The cost-benefit study found that as many as one-in-five personal customers joined because of the bank's ethical and green approach, which has been aggressively promoted in television and press advertisements.