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
Total surface area: 2,384 m²
45 stories

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.