Whether in Europe, Asia or the Americas, the Société Générale Group’s infrastructure faces the same major challenge: its energy consumption. The bank’s Green IT (or Green infrastructure) programme seeks to address this issue, whether it be it on a PC and printer level, or more generally at the infrastructure level.

Green IT is based on 5 Es: Becoming more Efficient, we will reduce Energy, which reduces our Emissions, helps the Environment and generates savings (Euros). The 5 Es challenge is designed to encourage staff to think and act differently, and to actively participate in greener solutions.

Daily consumption
One of the simplest ways to implement Green IT is to make a joint effort on daily energy consumption. Numerous initiatives have been implemented to reduce, in particular, the impact of printing. For example, only recto verso printers are acquired nowadays, and they are pre-configured to offer users this specific option by default. Staff members are also encouraged to use the "draft option", which allows a substantial reduction of ink consumption.

We systematically favour the purchase of the most energy efficient products available. Our recently acquired PC screens divide our electricity bill by 2, and before we buy new PCs, we first check if we cannot use the ones we already have in stock. Our next step is to save more energy by using the stand-by mode for our machines at night, while ensuring their level of security during the day.

Infrastructure
To reduce Société Générale’s infrastructure (data centres, servers...) consumption, we are working on technical solutions such as virtualisation, which would allow several operating systems and applications to work on a single machine. As an example, we could reach a 5% reduction in the number of peta-bites stored for SG CIB.

For data centres, our efforts focus on air conditioning management in our rooms. Through a better control of cold and warm air, we can significantly reduce our electricity consumption. Green IT is about fewer servers that are better used and better housed.

Travel
Travel is important in team working, especially when different cultures are involved. Nevertheless, Visio conference offers a real opportunity to partly reduce the amount of staff travel, and therefore save time and money and help the planet. By reducing our travel by 20%, Visio conference rooms are profitable in a few months.

With the goal of becoming an exemplary player in the financial sector in terms of carbon emissions, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2012.

In order to reduce the direct impact of our activities on our environment, and in particular, minimise our carbon footprint, different enablers can be activated simultaneously.

By changing certain behaviours, we can contribute to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by our business through initiatives taken at Group level (i.e. electricity, water and paper consumption, travel policies), based on a ‘location' approach.

As a second step, we will also look into the possibility of offsetting our remaining carbon emissions by purchasing or developing strategic projects generating ‘carbon credits'. More specifically, we aim to be a leading player in the carbon credit market through orbeo, a unique joint-venture, equally owned by SG CIB and Rhodia, combining industrial and financial expertise in the area of carbon emission trading.

The Granite Building, part of Société Générale Group’s headquarters complex, is the first high-rise tower in France to be certified as a High Environmental Quality (HQE) Building.

It reflects the Group's commitment to sustainable development. The HQE label recognises the application of a policy of sustainable development for building construction. The objectives of constructing an HQE certified building are to limit its negative environmental impact and to design a satisfying interior environment.

Characteristics of the Granite Tower
Height: 184 m
Plot surface area: 2,384 m²
45 storeys