We have committed ourselves to preserve the environment through processes towards sustainability in our day to day activities. As such, we haveadopted a Green Culture to promote an eco-friendly model, supported by the launching of our Corporate Environmental Policy engaging both our employees and the community to “Walk the Green Path”.

Accordingly, we have undergone a full retrofit to become compliant with the green international specifications and the environment conservation standards. As a result of this retrofit and the adoption of a Green Culture, we received in December 2011 the “Arz Bronze Certification” for our Head Office Building in Adlieh from the ARZ Building Rating System managed by the Lebanese Green Building Council - LGBC -  a non-profit organization, member of the World Green Building Council (WGBC) and accordingly became the first commercial Green Building in Lebanon.

We took on this environmental challenge through greening our operations with the support of our employees in implementing our Corporate Environmental policy through the adoption of the 3 R’s approach policy: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in four fields being Energy, Water, Paper and Waste.

Energy
Measures to monitor and reduce energy use were taken at several levels:

• Installation of electric counters on each floor to control and manage electricity consumption
• Use of efficient energy saving lamps

• Installation of movement sensors
• Upgrading of the building automation system with smart software to ensure better control of the Bank’s entire network of lighting, appliances and machinery usage
• Use of Solar thermal systems for water heating
• Integrating sustainable and green efficient features in both the architecture and design of the premises, new and renovated, such as shading, highly reflective &/ vegetative roof isolation, wall insulation systems, and energy sufficient glazing, being factors that will lead to thermal gain.

Water
The Bank’s Green Habits agenda implemented water saving devices such as:

• Installation of dual flush faucets in the washrooms, equipped with low to middle water flow options, to save on water usage
• Installation of water pressure devices, in both the Head Office and branches to ensure adequate water flow consumption
• Equipping the lavatories and sinks with proper low flow plumbing fixtures
• Using drip and smart irrigation systems and rain water collection where applicable

Paper
Due to its harmful effect on nature, the following criteria were taken into consideration to minimize white paper usage:

• Double sided printing and photocopying
• Individual printers were replaced by centralized smart photocopying machines to be used for scanning, printing and photocopying, for the objective of reducing un-necessary excessive printing.
• Encouraging exchange of emails and scanned electronic documents instead of hard copies as much as possible
• Creation of a unique template for email signatures asking recipients not to print unless necessary
• Printing part of the Bank’s stationary on recycled paper ( Letter heads, business cards, …)
• Using unsatisfactory printed output as scrap paper
• Usage of recycled paper or digital dispensers for hand drying
• Usage of recycled napkin
• Exchanging newspapers/magazines subscriptions from printed versions to electronic subscription, and sharing of hard copies when applicable
• Usage of eco-friendly A4 paper for printings, sourced from trees which are sustainably managed, and abides by the environmental criteria and rules of the Forest Stewardship Program
• All paper waste ( office paper & newspaper) to be thrown in separate and dedicated recycling bins which will be separately collected and sent to specialized recycling companies
• Customers are encouraged to get enrolled in the e-banking services, thus not receive paper statements in an attempt to make a significant cut in its environmental foot print
• Employees pay slips are no longer printed on paper but are sent as e-statements to each employee.

Waste
The waste minimization strategies adopted by BLC Bank include the following measures:

• Improve indoor air quality through creating “ Smoke Free premises” and outdoor air delivery through proper monitoring to ensure that the ventilation system provides enough fresh air
• Reduce ink consumption by replacing individual printers with a centralized photocopying machine
• Minimize the harmful effect of empty ink cartridges used by individual printers with a centralized photocopying machine
• Eliminating as much as possible and in coordination with cleaning services companies, the usage of hazardous detergents which contain chemicals with high ozone depletion potential and switching instead of to eco-friendly detergents
• Shifting to low emission paints and coatings that abide by specific VOC content limits, using non toxic environmentally friendly paint finishing
• Replacing the carpets by false wood flooring or tiles, as they require less maintenance and cleaning, reduce health problems, and have longer durability. In addition, adhesives and sealants used should abide by VOC limits
• Engagement in “ No More Plastic Cup” campaign and shifting to usage of glass and ceramic cups
• Using calculators that are operated by solar power instead of batteries
• Make available branded recycling bins to sort waste material for paper, cans, plastic and glasses
• Collecting e-waste and used batteries and send them to Beeatona, an NGO specialized in e-waste management