Pressure is building on business, not least the financial sector, to respond to the various challenges posed by the increasing growth of interest in environmental issues. A consortium of banks and insurers (the FORGE group) have been working together with the support of the DTI and DETR, to produce guidance on environmental management and reporting for the financial services sector. The BBA, and the ABI, have also been involved, and environmental consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers are advising the Group
The FORGE Group members include CGNU, Abbey National, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Prudential plc, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Royal & Sun Alliance. Building on the experience of many financial services organisations, the Guidelines highlight why environmental management and reporting is an important part of corporate governance. They also identify the business activities that create key environmental management and reporting issues and provide guidance for developing management processes that avoid environmental risk, meet governance standards, and realise business opportunities.
The guidance provides a tool-kit from which companies can draw elements that they consider to be most suitable for their business; small companies can tailor it to their particular needs. While it does not claim to represent the last word in what is a rapidly developing area, BBA believes that it constitutes a useful first step.
