Standard Chartered launches Phase II of Green Cover Project
Saturday, 22 June 2013 06:56
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Standard Chartered’s Green Cover Project, an initiative to reduce paper wastage, whereby the Bank pledged to plant a tree for every customer signing up for an eStatement, saw the launch of its second phase recently. This year to mark World Environment Day, eighty of the Bank’s staff volunteers planted an additional 850 pandanus plants along the stretch of beach at Kosgoda and cleaned the environs. The initial impetus for the initiative was provided when volunteers from Standard Chartered planted 200 trees last year in an effort to inspire customers to sign up for having their bank statements delivered electronically.
Head of Consumer Banking Sanjay Wijemanne, commenting on the Green Cover Project said “The pandanus were planted at Kosgoda near sea turtle nesting areas to help with the conservation of Sri Lanka’s marine turtle population, as well as to replenish the green cover in the area. It is extremely rewarding when our sustainability initiatives yield multiple benefits, and I am sure our customers who made the change to eStatements will be proud of the initiative too.”
Standard Chartered will continue to mobilise similar groups of volunteers to engage in planting a pandanus cover in the Kosgoda area, especially those stretches of beach on which sea turtles nest. Loss of the vegetation in the area has led to the turtle hatchlings emerging from the nest at night being disorientated by the street lights, leading them to crawl towards the brightest, lowest horizon which under natural conditions is the reflection of the moon and stars on the sea, but instead is the highway or inland. The Bank’s volunteers’ focus was particularly to avert this disaster and provide a safe environ within which turtles could hatch and return to the sea. Standard Chartered’s Green Cover Project’s aim is to minimise the negative impact of commercial enterprise on the environment, and the Bank was the first to announce a zero carbon credit card in the country in partnership with the Conservation Carbon Company (CCC), last year. With this most recent effort, the total number of trees planted by the Bank’s volunteers is counted at 3000 at sites located in Kosgoda, Boralugoda, Ratnapura, Horana and Pereliya.
The conversion to an eStatement is as easy as calling up the Bank and making a request to have paper statements converted to electronic statements. Standard Chartered Customers, wishing to be a part of this initiative may call 2480480 or 2480444 any time of the day to sign up for electronic statements.
