A further difficulty of the real estate shift, the bank notes, is that it reduces opportunities to generate measurable returns on efficiency investments. “To achieve our operational goals, we will need to be more creative in our corporate workplace initiatives, working closely with our landlords to be more efficient in the space we occupy,” the report says.
Report overview
The report uses a 2010 baseline year.
This year it also included three new Scope 3 categories: Purchased Goods and Services (Category 1), Capital Goods (Category 2) and Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities (Category 3). BoA says it is identifying and calculating three additional categories of Scope 3 emissions — Downstream Transportation & Distribution (Category 9), Use of Sold Products (Category 11) and End of Life Treatment of Sold Products (Category 12) — and will report that data in its Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) submission for release in September.
The GRI has verified the report at Application Level B+.
Energy efficiency and green building
Bank of America says the energy-efficiency projects it completed in 2012 are projected to save 59,941 MWh of electricity annually. It says that by installing exterior LED systems at 76 retail locations, it improved aesthetics, cut annual energy and maintenance costs by $138,000, and nearly eliminated exterior lighting maintenance.
Since 2004, the bank has saved more than $227 million in energy costs through efficiency projects, the report says.
The company’s electricity use, purchased steam and cooling and natural gas consumption all fell from 2011 to 2012. But again, it’s impossible to phrase these in terms of overall efficiency, when BoA does not supply consumption relative to floor space.
The company is aiming for 20 percent LEED-certified square-footage workspace by 2015. But in 2012, BoA also sold or exited a number of LEED-certified spaces, raising the number of new certifications it needs to pursue. Its percentage of LEED-certified workspace remained constant from 2011 to 2012, at 15 percent.
Bank of America completed more than 600,000 sq ft of LEED-certified projects in 2012, and by year-end, 53 of its banking centers had achieved certification. During 2012, it achieved its first LEED certifications in Asia, including buildings in Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Chennai and Seoul. It now has more than 17 million square feet of LEED-certified workspace.
Supply chain
