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SECTION TEN
Priorities and Challenges
One highlight was the Enviro-Team's sustainability efforts, which took the commitment to a new level and was a good strategy for deeper integration for the team members and the support units they represent. The other major breakthrough was the climate change position approval, which demonstrated the bank's willingness to work with external nonprofits to gain a better understanding of a tough issue, then respond to the information received. In late 2002, the company's Environmental Advisory Group agreed that there was a need to assess the bank's environmental commitment to identify and prioritize the top environmental issues for Bank of America. In early 2003, an assessment team of associates, internal environmental experts and representatives from two international advisory and research organizations -(World Resources Institute and The Natural Step) used Six Sigma tools to develop a list of environmental issues the company should address for maximum impact to the environment. Following that event, the Environmental Advisory Group endorsed and adopted the assessment team's recommendations. The top four environmental issues that Bank of America can impact based on our current business model, in priority order, are:
The bank will adjust resources and metrics to correspond to the assessment outcomes. Strategically, the bank will continue to work with other businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies to build partnerships in addressing the environmental challenges within these identified areas of focus. Developing good metrics is a challenge as often this development is not a strategic business need and limited resources slow down the process of development. Still key to the success of the environmental commitment is the integration into our business decisions, operations and processes. Bank of America will continue to work with the teams that can leverage their areas of expertise to come up with the best integration points, especially within the areas of priority set by the assessment.
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n 2002, the environment commitment's progress proved to be sustainable even when the bank's environmental program director was unable to perform her job due to personal reasons for eight months. Even without this program support, the bank's leadership, individuals and teams supported the commitment and continued progress.