My bank's greener than yours!

So just how green is your bank?

An interesting question and one which we might increasingly ask as nearly all of them have jumped onto one of the green bandwagons somewhere along the line.

Following the recent launches of the American Express Red, and the Co-operative Bank charity card, today we have the launch of the 'Green' Barclaycard - story from The Guardian. This promises to donate half of the profits to PURE, a UK charity that invests in low energy projects.

As the authors put it .....

"Many of these initiatives have been greeted with scepticism by critics who accuse the banks of jumping on the climate change bandwagon to get more publicity."

.... Quite! It seems a peculiar way to donate to charity if you ask me!

And on the same day, HSBC appoint Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the government report on climate change, as a 'special advisor'. From TimesOnline.

"His appointment further demonstrates that sustainability issues are at the forefront of HSBC’s agenda.”

OK ...... I think I'm with the general idea so far .....

It [HSBC] said that his role would include "providing direct advice on specific strategic issues in emerging markets where the bank has aspirations to grow its business; advising on the socioeconomic implications of climate change and representing HSBC on these issues; contributing to management development programmes ... and providing advice to major clients of the group who seek to develop sustainable business strategies or other programmes relating to climate change and to economic development issues".

.... A nice, clear, concise remit that means ....... just what, exactly?

ADDENDUM (form Junkk Male):

Mad - Green backs…I mean banks

Or, worse, if not done with genuine intent, long term commitment and tangible follow-through, does it just add to the level of 'green noise' that is already saturating the airwaves, and further contribute to the public tuning out?

My little site gets a press release every few days from some bank or other saying how they have gone carbon neutral, or some supermarket to say they are switching to green energy.

Good on them! But as a consumer, other than meeting a legislative obligation or reducing running costs this impacts me how, exactly?

I have always written back to applaud their moves, but go on to suggest that to get my little online resource to publish their PR it would need to be a tad more tangible in the area of actual savings to planet and said consumer.

In the case of banks, this could take the form of low or at-cost loans to put in insulation. A loss-leader to get custom at a later stage. If they end up saving money on energy, once they go into profit then they may wish to buy into something else that requires finance... hopefully something equally responsible.

Some have moved in that direction, but most, sadly, seem more keen to bank the money and invest more on spun veneer than actual substance.

Which seems quite a waste.