La banque d'un monde qui change 2004 - BNP Paribas

Social and environmental indicators prescribed by the New Economic Regulations (NRE)NRE indicator 2004 Comments Scope concerned10. Measures taken to avoidupsetting the biological balance11. Measures taken to ensurecompliance with legalrequirements12. Steps taken towardsenvironmental evaluationsand certifications13. Company expendituresfor prevention of environmentalimpacts14. Internal departmentfor environmental managementAs part of the CO 2 survey, the Group has to identify the processes by whichit could harm the environment, for example the use of refrigerants at its19 Central buildings in Paris. Once such processes have been identified, the Groupattempts to reduce their use.BNP Paribas constantly strives to reach the highest standards of ethical behaviour,regulatory compliance, risk management and internal control. Within a changingbanking environment characterised by increasing regulatory requirements, theGroup has decided to create a new global Compliance function, the directorof which reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and has broad powersthroughout the Group. The director of the Compliance function is responsiblefor seeing to the consistency and effectiveness of the Group’s initiatives, both interms of ethics and more generally with respect to legaland regulatory requirements applicable to banking and financial operations.The Corporate Facilities Management Department is in charge of establishingguidelines to ensure that energy management systems comply with regulationsapplicable in France.The Global Procurement Group (GPG) establishes property management guidelinesbased on the most stringent requirements in the countries where the Groupoperates. As part of its efforts to ensure that all international sites enforce theseguidelines, GPG reviews all major construction projects within the Group andperforms property audits for head office buildings in connection with acquisitions.BNP Paribas was included for the third consecutive year as a component in all fourof the benchmark indices for socially responsible investment: Dow Jones SI World,Dow Jones SI Stoxx, FTSE4Good and Aspi Eurozone.Although the Group’s inclusion in these indices represents neither an evaluationnor a certification, it nevertheless provides a positive indication of BNP Paribas’scompliance with the requirements of social and environmental responsibility.Considering the type of service activities that the Group carries out, its currentenvironmental impacts do not justify launching a process of environmentalcertification. Nevertheless, because the Group is pursuing a policy of reducingcosts and related consumption levels, and has conducted a CO 2 , survey, it has beenable to appraise the environmental consequences of its operations and improve itsenvironmental effectiveness.Meunier’s overall approach is aimed at producing offices that meet the standardsof high environmental quality (HQE), as defined in the recommendations issuedby CSTB, the French building industry scientific and technical advisory centre.Without waiting for the final guidelines that will make it possible to obtaincertification under the HQE-AFNOR standard, Meunier is already complying withthe principal CSTB recommendations.Given the nature of the Group’s operations, they have limited direct consequenceson the environment. Nonetheless, the Group has focused on ten directions forfulfilling its environmental responsibilities and implementing preventive action.Their cost is difficult to estimate separately.See the Sustainable Development section of the annual report, under Impact onthe natural environment – Using all available levers for improvement.The cross-functional departments responsible for assessing the Group’s environmentalimpacts and taking steps to reduce them are Corporate Facilities Management inFrance and the Global Procurement Group outside France. Both have the authorityand the expertise to carry out this task. Corporate Facilities Management has over700 employees, while the Global Procurement Group calls upon 2,500 procurementcorrespondents handling all material Group subsidiaries worldwide.To clarify and document overall coordination among the Corporate FacilitiesManagement Department, the Global Procurement Group and Group SustainableDevelopment, roadmaps were defined, setting targets and determining stepsto be taken in 2005.GroupGroupGroupGroupGroup297BNP PARIBAS - ANNUAL REPORT 2004