Vancouver City Savings Credit Union is the first North American-based financial institution to be carbon neutral.
Being carbon neutral means that the CO2 emissions Vancity creates are now equal to the emissions it has reduced or offset elsewhere.
This goal, which the Vancity Group, including Citizens Bank of Canada, voluntarily set in 2006 for 2010, was achieved early through a rigorous emissions reduction program focusing on energy use, staff travel, paper consumption and waste.
Over the last 10 years, Vancity cut its energy use by 50 per cent, incidents of staff commuting to work by driving alone by 13 per cent, and its paper consumption by 30 per cent saving well over $2 million in energy costs alone.
What it couldn't reduce, it offset by investing in high-quality, verified emission reduction projects, in British Columbia and beyond.
To celebrate hitting its carbon neutral target, Vancity is 'paying it forward' by helping other organizations shrink their own carbon footprints.
It will do this by paying for 25 small-to-medium-sized businesses to participate in Ecotrust Canada's Climate Smart Workgroups, launched last year in partnership with the Pembina Institute and the David Suzuki Foundation, to help organizations calculate and reduce their CO2 emissions.
Vancity will also help other organizations fight climate change by sharing its tools and processes around how it achieved carbon neutrality on its website.
Vancity Board of Directors Chair Patrice Pratt says Vancity is hoping that other businesses take up the charge.
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