Use and Conservation of Natural Resources for Internal Operations

he Bank of America Environmental Commitment includes reducing the environmental impacts of our global operations. This involves efforts as diverse as making buildings more energy efficient; including environmental responsibility in vendor selection and contracts; and implementing a national recycling program for all paper and nonpaper confidential items.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY
To lessen our environmental impacts, Bank of America continues to move toward a more circular economy, by reducing materials use, through recycling and supporting the recycled materials market. This effort puts less stress on the natural system resulting in reduced raw material demand and creating wealth. Bank of America efforts in achieving a circular economy include:

Reduce Materials Use

Through the "Make It Second Nature" program, Bank of America sought to make recycling and material reusing second nature throughout the company. Launched in December 2001, the program reduced the amount of materials discarded and saved the bank money.

In 2002, there were 13 internal communication pieces outlining ways associates could support the bank's environmental commitment by rethinking, reducing and recycling. In addition, two toolkits were distributed:

• An Earth Day toolkit that featured the history of Earth Day and provided ideas for holding Earth Day events that would educate associates on the bank's environmental commitment and how associates could contribute to the success of this commitment.
• The other toolkit was the Minimize—Organize—Centralize toolkit which featured a set of activities associates could do on a special clean up day or as a series of activities they could do throughout the year. The objective of this kit was to coordinate a simple and efficient way for business units to adopt practices that minimize and centralize supplies, remove unused equipment and clean files, while making sure materials are properly disposed of, reused, and/or recycled.

• Environmentally sound office practices and other environmental resources are posted on the bank's Intranet Web site. The site is updated annually.
• To further reduce paper consumption, some ongoing franchise wide efforts include:
  
  • An online process for ordering and renewing subscriptions is offered to associates.
  • An online expense reimbursement service (EXPRES) to replace paper-based associate expense reports.

RECYCLING
Paper is by far the largest component of the bank's waste stream. By improving recycling performance, Bank of America lowers the environmental impact of its operations.

The bank participates in the National Document Destruction/Recycling Program that combines secured document destruction and recycling. Through recycling containers located in each business unit, associates protect client confidentiality and the environment.

Wastepaper is a corporate asset for which the bank receives revenue. Throwing paper away is the same as throwing away potential income.

Recycling saves disposal costs. The more the bank diverts from the waste stream, the more environmental resources and money is saved.

REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION:

• National Energy Team. Formed and led by the bank's Corporate Real Estate (CRE) group, this team (which includes CRE, facility partners and Environmental Initiatives) strives to reduce energy consumption through implementation of energy efficiency projects/guidelines and associate education. See detailed information in Section 8.

SUPPORTING THE MARKET FOR RECYCLED MATERIALS
Whenever possible, Bank of America purchases recycled materials for company wide use.

Bank of America purchased 48,904 tons of paper in 2002 -- an increase of 14% over last year. Excluding marketing purchases, paper purchased declined by 13% overall due to reduction efforts which decreased usage in copy paper, forms and statements. This is offset by a major increase in marketing paper, due to a more comprehensive reporting of this type of paper in 2002.

Some very good news - In 2002, recycled paper with post consumer content represented 75% of the bank's paper purchases.

NONPAPER
Additional nonpaper conservation efforts include:

Reuse
Bank of America is an advocate for the reuse and refurbishment of existing furniture and equipment. This policy has saved millions of dollars in new capital purchases for the bank and lessens the amount of additional raw materials and energy required in making new furniture and equipment.

For the year 2002, National Surplus processed the following equipment and furniture:

ADDITIONAL EFFORTS

Equipment —

• The bank continues to use a "take-back" program with Hewlett Packard. Hewlett Packard has agreed to recycle/reuse PCs or will dispose of the equipment under strict environmental guidelines when unable to recycle/reuse.
• All new printers will be Energy Star compliant and defaulted to duplex.

Other
In 2002, Bank of America re-bid its carpet contract for 2003 to include recycling of existing carpet and modified specifications for type 6 nylon (type 6 nylon can be recycled into itself). New contract requires quarterly reporting.

Bank of America participates in a remanufactured facsimile toner cartridge program from Imagistices, a minority-owned business. The bank ordered 24,600 remanufactured toner cartridges in 2002.

Partnering with Office Depot, the bank blocks environmentally unfriendly products in the Bank of America/Office Depot Corporate Supplies Catalog. Styrofoam cups and neon papers, which contaminate the bank's recycled paper program, are among the supplies that were removed from the catalog.

All in-store banking center fixtures and new customer service greeter stations for banking centers are manufactured with primarily recycled materials.

New banking centers feature calling cubes, lobby chairs and booth chairs made of 100% recycled solution dyed sustainable fabrics.

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
To assist in moving toward a more sustainable economy, Bank of America associates solicit advice and technical expertise in the development and management of environmental programs and practices. Networking and building relationships with environmental groups, government agencies and other businesses are important links to finding ways to mitigate against the bank's environmental impacts. Of special interest to the bank are relationships with other organizations working to find solutions that are cost-effective and beneficial to the environment and change the fundamental infrastructure needed for a more sustainable future. Bank of America is involved in many working relationships beneficial to our efforts to reduce our internal environmental impacts.

Recycled Paper Coalition. When Bank of America began buying recycled paper; it found higher prices and problems with recycled paper quantity, variety and quality. The bank believed greater market demand would stimulate paper manufacturers to address these issues, but the bank alone could not generate greater demand. Finding other companies who shared our goals, Bank of America worked to form the Recycled Paper Coalition (RPC), comprised of paper buyers in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

The RPC is a voluntary organization of major paper users whose national board of directors includes Bank of America, Kaiser Permanente, George Lithograph, Natural Resources Defense Council, California Integrated Waste Management Board, Hewlett-Packard, Gap Inc., City of Chicago, Kinko's, RR Donnelley & Sons Company, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Alameda County Waste Management Authority and Source Reduction and Recycling Board and Corporate Express Document & Print Management. Today, the coalition has more than 260 members, and Bank of America co-chairs its board.

The Natural Step. This organization's mission is to accelerate global sustainability by guiding companies and governments onto an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable path. Natural Step works with businesses to create solutions, innovative models and tools that will lead the transition to a sustainable future. Teaming with the bank's Enviro-Team, an environmental training toolkit on sustainability was produced and is being used to train associates within Supply Chain Management.

U.S. Green Building Council. Bank of America is a member of this nonprofit building industry coalition that promotes the understanding, development and accelerated implementation of "green building" policies, programs, technologies, standards and design practices.

WasteWise. Bank of America is a participant in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program, which seeks to reduce business solid waste. Members of this voluntary program commit to preventing waste, buying or manufacturing recycled products and recycling.

Additional relationships in which we have shared information and collaborated on solutions include Environmental Defense Fund, National Recycling Coalition and Conservatree.

ASSOCIATE TRANSPORTATION
Bank of America recognizes that associate commuting can adversely affect air quality. Local market presidents assess the need and address this issue locally. The following programs address this impact and respond to local regulations.

National Efforts

• Picture Talk. This advanced software links participants in real time, allowing associates to attend meetings and training classes without traveling.
• Telecommuting. Under this program with management approval, associates can perform all or part of their work from locations other than their normal work sites, either on a regular or an occasional basis.

Regional Efforts
These programs are coordinated and conducted at the discretion of local or state market presidents. The bank does not have a mechanism for collecting information from all regions; however, here are a few examples of regional efforts:

Arizona

The Bank of America Trip Reduction Program — To get commuting converts, all associates who participate in the Trip Reduction Program by carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting, walking, biking or riding the bus to work are eligible for a monthly prize drawing. The bank also offers a Guaranteed Ride Home program to encourage participation. This program allows associates who use an alternate mode of transportation can secure a free ride home from work in the event of a personal emergency in the middle of the day.

California

• East Bay — program includes an employer shuttle to transit, rideshare and vanpool matching with dedicated premier parking, bicycle storage, a recharging station for two electric cars, and hosts an annual transportation fair.
• Sacramento — Bank of America has been a member of the Fifty Corridor Transportation Management Association for six years. Bank of America associates are encouraged to "Spare the Air" through the availability of a ride share matching service and a bicycle purchase/parts/repair/locker discount program. They are also guaranteed a free ride home in the event of a problem.

Georgia

Smog Free Georgia. This program was designed to inform bank associates in Atlanta about smog reduction, by using methods such as the public transportation system Metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Authority (MARTA) for their commute, eating lunch in or walking to lunch or refueling their cars after 6 p.m. - 900 associates participated in the 2002 MARTA commute program. Also, a transportation fair was held to publicize regional Van Pool and Car Pool Programs along with other alternative transportation modes.

Washington

Spokane:
"Find another way day" - Commute Trip Reduction Activities to Encourage Carpooling, Walking, Public Transportation, etc

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