Bank of America 2002 Environmental Progress Report
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section one
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section four
section five
section six
section seven
section eight
section nine
section ten
appendix one
appendix two
SECTION FIVE

Service and Product Stewardship

BANK GUIDELINES

Environmental Matters

These guidelines instruct banking officers to use environmental sensitivity when making decisions on providing core business products and services such as credit, investment, underwriting and payments. These guidelines support the practice of making special efforts to identifying ways to finance projects and companies that benefit the environment and staying away from financing projects and companies whose environmental practices fall short of acceptable standards. The bank considers environmental practices acceptable if they meet industry standards, conform to World Bank guidelines and comply with applicable law.

Developing Countries Lending Criteria

When extending new loans and other credit commitments to developing countries, Bank of America will consider not only the borrower's capacity and willingness to repay, but will also consider social policy, the purpose of the transaction and the impact on the local populace. These guidelines cover such areas as impact on the environment, cultural and social structures and human rights.

World Bank Guidelines
The environmental guidelines specifically refer to the World Bank's Pollution Control and Abatement Guidelines as a key measure in evaluating potential environmental performance on projects Bank of America finances.

Compliance
Bank of America environmental credit guidelines were formally approved in December 1999 and updated in 2001. The guidelines are included in standard credit risk manuals as an online resource and changes to the policies are communicated through bulletins. All new risk management associates are trained on the credit policies. All policy violations are noted when a loss occurs. In 2002, the bank assessed material single obligor losses due to policy violations and none were due to noncompliance of environmental guidelines.

 

INTERNAL TEAMS

The Bank of America Environmental Services team provides lending officers with research, evaluation and other support for environmental issues that affect the bank's products and services. The team has developed broad expertise in integrating the financing needs of clients with the technical issues associated with actual or perceived contamination of real estate. Having pioneered the evaluation of environmental risk issues in real estate financing in the late 1980s, the Bank of America Environmental Services team has led the financial industry in its involvement in community and public policy activities.

The Environmental Services and Environmental Initiatives team also acts in an advisory capacity. They follow issues of business and public concern and share information with bank associates for use in making business credit and investment decisions. An important part of this advisory role is to work with public agencies, nonprofit organizations and businesses to better understand environmental issues and communicate these concerns within Bank of America.

 

INVESTMENTS

WebGen Systems, Inc. is an energy technology company that developed a software application that automates demand-side management for facility managers of office and retail real estate portfolios. It is anticipated that in the future this technology will also be used to automate demand-side management of broadband and facilities management services, but in the near term the company is focusing on energy conservation.

WebGen is focused on two primary applications of this technology as it relates to electricity:

  1. Using automated control capability to optimize energy usage
  2. Providing voluntary curtailment capabilities that allow facilities managers to respond to power shortage situations by cutting load

    3. WebGen links into many of the critical electrical and mechanical systems of a building through the Internet. Through this connection, WebGen can monitor, produce reports and control these systems. WebGen automates this control for facilities mangers by using artificial intelligence software that learns how to optimize energy usage and curtail load. Optimization includes customizing consumption to scheduled usage and shifting/shaping load to less costly (non-peak) hours of the day. For example, timing air conditioners to classroom schedules at universities and pre-cooling air conditioner chillers in less costly time periods. Curtailing load is accomplished by cutting consumption of flexible equipment and rotating load through a portfolio when requested by the electricity administrator. Examples of this include allowing temperatures to fluctuate in unoccupied or non-mission critical areas of buildings and rotating the turning off of air conditioners in building portfolios, resulting in virtual, "fully turned off buildings."

    WebGen was founded by Bank of America. Bank of America currently has a 12% ownership share of WebGen.

     

    SUSTAINABLE JOBS FUND, LP (SJF)

    The Community Development Funds (CDF) group has a $3 million investment in the Durham- and Philadelphia-based Sustainable Jobs Fund, LP (SJF). SJF is a private equity fund that invests in growing businesses based in the Eastern US that create jobs for former low-income individuals. SJF has special expertise in companies operating within the recycling, remanufacturing, environmental and energy efficiency industries. A Bank of America associate is an advisory board member to the Fund. For more information, visit the Fund's Web site at http://www.sjfund.com.

     

    HEDGEWOOD PROPERTIES

    Bank of America is a proud supporter of Hedgewood Properties, the Professional Builder magazine 2003 Builder of the Year. Hedgewood Properties became the first builder to commit to building all its homes by the EarthCraft standard, a voluntary green building program developed by the Greater Atlanta Homer Builders Association. Hedgewood homes capitalize on energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality and resource efficiency.

     

    PRODUCTS

    A number of Bank of America products and services reduce the impacts on our environment. For more information visit www.bankofamerica.com/. Products and services include:

    Homebanking. This Online Banking service reduces the use of paper and saves customers the time and expense of travel. In 2002, a major effort to provide e-bills was launched. Through the e-bill process, customers can receive certain billing statements by e-mail and then pay online, eliminating printed statements and payments. In 2003, Bank of America began piloting electronic statements in select regions. For more information visit http://www.bankofamerica.com/onlinebanking/.

    Recycled paper checks. Acknowledging that paper checks remain part of commerce, Bank of America recycles paper that would otherwise become landfill and prints several check styles on recycled paper.

    Contribution checks. Customers have the option of supporting any of three environmental organizations when they select our special check series. For each box of checks purchased, 50 cents goes directly to the organization.

    In 2002, customers ordered 189,400 boxes of special checks, resulting in a contribution of $94,700. Organizations that benefited were Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the Yosemite Fund.

    To order these checks go to: http://www.bankofamerica.com/environment/index.cfm?template=env_alliance_checks

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