Environment protection
Put
online in the summer of 2006, Erste Bank’s new headquarters (EuropeTower)
has been furnished with thermal insulation in line with today’s building
standards, equipped with sophisticated heating and cooling technologies with
automatic control mechanism, and also fitted with a facility monitoring system.
The bank has committed to improve energy efficiency in its new headquarters and
branch network alike. The headquarters is equipped with motion sensor lighting,
which turns off automatically. The operation and optimum positioning of the
elevators is programmed to work in an economical and user-friendly way. During
the night and weekends, the heating and air conditioning system works in energy
saving mode: The temperature is adjusted to external temperature, but each
office is equipped with manual controls to allow individual temperature setting.
All workstations in the building have natural lighting, an important
consideration in retaining employee health and also in ensuring lower energy
consumption.
In
order to reduce paper usage, Erste Bank has implemented the option ‘cash
withdrawal without statement’ in its home ATM network.
To
prevent huge volumes of waste from being produced, office kitchens in the upper
floors of EuropeTower boast automated water supply, and
discarded newspapers are collected by the employees once a month and offered to
primary schools. Plans for a container for the disposal of batteries in the
lobby of the building are under way, and ways of collecting plastic bottles is
also being devised.
For
employees riding bicycles to and from work the bank ensures two storage rooms,
locker rooms with water facilities, promoting healthy and environment-friendly
transportation.
Regarding
its activities, general laws of environment protection are applicable for Erste
Bank. Environment protection has no impact on the bank’s financial performance
or standing.
