As environmental responsibility becomes increasingly important to business, global banking giant HSBC is putting technology at the forefront of efforts to go green.

Many leading companies have announced carbon reduction initiatives, but few have revealed as much detail about the role of IT innovation, and the scope of HSBC’s ambitions offers an insight into best practice in green computing.

Last month, the company announced a five-year, £45m global environmental efficiency programme. The action plan includes a push to develop a sustainable business through changes to IT operations and procurement.

HSBC is implementing a range of energy-saving IT initiatives across its 10,000 offices, with the target of reducing power consumption by seven per cent by the end of 2007.

A new purchasing strategy includes buying IT goods and services from environmentally responsible vendors, making sure sub-components are also sourced accordingly.

Energy efficiency also covers the firm’s managed print service, which has increased the number of shared printers and multifunctional devices to reduce the total number of powered units.

HSBC environmental adviser Francis Sullivan says more energy-efficient technology has a critical role in reducing the impact on the environment.

‘Big advances in more efficient technology means we can use computer equipment that uses less electricity per unit of output,’ he said.

‘That’s why we are putting so much effort into IT, because we realise computing equipment uses a lot of electricity and that turning to clever IT solutions will help us move forward.’

Engaging employees is a vital part of the plan, and includes a checklist of questions for project managers and buyers of IT supplies on how to judge the environmental implications.

Scoring top IT vendors helps employees to raise concerns at regular account reviews.

Those suppliers will have to adhere to the HSBC purchasing department’s ethical code of conduct, spelling out the expectations for vendors’ environmental responsibilities.

Butler Group research analyst Mark Blowers says buying the right technology equipment is instrumental in reducing carbon emissions.

‘Companies can reduce data centre heating and cooling, switch off desktops and purchase energy-efficient computers because reducing carbon emissions goes right down to the chips that power a machine,’ he said.

HSBC’s environmental programme will also benefit from the appointment of Sir Nicholas Stern to advise on reducing its impact on the environment.

Stern was economic adviser on climate change and development to the prime minister and chancellor from 2003-7, and led the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.

Trials of new technology:

The bank has implemented desktop software across its international operations that enables systematic switch-off of machines at night to reduce energy consumption.

The system closes any open files in an orderly manner and shuts down the desktop system unit. The software has been installed on almost 20,000 UK PCs.

The bank’s operations in Asia-Pacific have made a reduction of 90 tonnes of CO2 by installing energy-smart software on new computers, including features such as shutting down machines when left idle.

Between June 2003 and June 2005, the bank switched to LCD flat-screen monitors, which reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated 170 tonnes – HSBC says it would take 15 hectares (40 acres) of trees one year to remove this amount of CO2 from the atmosphere.

The bank is now trialling virtual boardrooms in its major global offices, with the aim of cutting down on international travel. The high-quality teleconferencing facilities in London, Paris, Hong Kong and New York are being developed at a cost of about £50,000 at each office.

In India, the bank has developed ‘eco rooms’ which allow staff to work outside of office hours while conserving energy.

The rooms are self-contained and supported by standalone air conditioners with data connectivity, where staff can work without starting the central cooling systems.

High-efficiency chillers, variable-speed drives, and high-efficiency motors for chilled water pumps and cooling towers have been installed in the bank’s Malaysian operations under the air conditioning plant replacement programme.

An old data centre chiller in Bangunan Medan Pasar was replaced with a high efficiency chiller. The facade of Bangunan HSBC was upgraded with improved solar shielding, and energy-saving equipment was installed in branches.

Benchmarking data centres:

Since 2006, HSBC has been integrating sustainability into the concept and design of its 26 data centres.

The initiative extends from concept, through to construction, design and operation.

The bank has been benchmarking a number of data centres across the group, choosing locations with green building standards.

In the UK, the project involves developing a bespoke Building Research Establishment environmental assessment method (Breeam) standard for use in the design and construction of three new data centres.

The aim is to achieve a very good/excellent Breeam rating in each data centre through a series of energy-saving initiatives.

These include chiller selection, the trial of small-scale renewable energy devices such as solar cells and wind turbines on non-critical data centre buildings, use of free cooling and more efficient heating systems.

The bank predicts annual energy savings of 13.5 million kWh in its three new UK data centres, which represents 3.2 per cent of the total energy used in 2006.

The saving equates to the energy consumed in 89 large HSBC UK retail branches and an annual C02 reduction of 5,750 tonnes, which is 6.4 per cent of the 2006 UK total.

Breeam is a set of tools originally designed for the construction industry to understand and mitigate the environmental impact of buildings. The methodology can be adapted for use in specialised constructions, such as data centres. HSBC is also using similar standards in the US and Asia.

Energy awareness:

Getting the technology right is only part of the solution.

Energy awareness campaigns are also a key component of the bank’s plan, and a global campaign to switch off equipment is running throughout the bank’s offices to encourage energy awareness.

HSBC says it spends up to 10 times more on energy efficiency, such as technology upgrades, than on offsetting carbon dioxide emissions.

Gartner research vice president Simon Mingay says the problem with offsetting is that there is no way of being sure that a tonne of CO2 emitted will be permanently removed.

‘If you really want to assess the effectiveness of these campaigns you have to look at material measures they are taking to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions they are making,’ he said.

Other benefits include cost savings and good public relations as consumer awareness of global warming grows, he says.

Supply chain management:

The bank is working with suppliers to assess the environmental risk of its future sourcing decisions.

The assessments are based on site visits and open communication with suppliers.

Two templates have been developed to help in the assessment: a critical risk factor checklist and a supplier appraisal questionnaire.

A UK pilot for the supply chain assessment process is taking place in a joint initiative between the bank’s IT and purchasing departments, introducing Fujitsu Siemens desktops based on AMD chips.

Despite costing more than competing products, the PCs have a lower total cost of ownership and are more environmentally efficient.

HSBC is also using a procurement system called the electronic product environmental assessment tool (Epeat) to help evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their green attributes.

Epeat provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their products.