August 25th, 2009 · No Comments

From Green Right Now Reports

There’s a nice symmetry to this green trend that’s taken root among financial institutions. Aware that their paper-spewing tendencies carry a high carbon price (not to mention their actual price), many banks and credit companies are planting trees for customers who agree to forgo paper statements.

The latest to announce such a tree-planting project is the Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Kinecta will make a donation to plant a tree in the Brazilian Rain Forest for every customer who converts to electronic statements between now and Sept. 30.

“Our intention is not only to show our commitment to being a green organization, but also to motivate our members to consider the positive global impact even the smallest decision can have,” said Shannon Doiron, Director of Marketing & eCommerce in a news release. “Collectively, credit union members can make a tremendous difference simply by opting out of paper statements.”

The LA-area credit union hopes to plant 1,000 trees through the Nature Conservancy, which will put the plan into action.

Electronic statements save banks money — an estimated $12 to $17 annually per customer, according to the Arbor Day Foundation, which partners with institutions to handle the tree plantings.

And that savings can benefit customers, especially when credit unions or member-owned investment groups are involved. (Kinecta has 225,000 members to whom the savings can accrue.)

As important to environmentalists, and increasingly so to businesses, reeling in the paper trail can significantly reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Trees help clean the air and save habitat for wildlife, stacking up positive points for a company inventorying its environmental impact; by contrast, paper statements are resource intensive.

Other financial and retail organizations that have planted trees to encourage paperless statements include:

• Bank of America, Sovereign Bank, AT&T, T Mobile, Mary Kay and Allstate have all partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation at various times in the past two years during paperless promotions that reward customers with tree plantings.
• HSBC in the United Kingdom created an online virtual forest to depict the real tree planting going on as customers moved online, though their initial proposition was not one-for-one — the going gold standard today.
• Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America and Allstate have partnered with the Nature Conservancy to plant trees in exchange for customers going paperless.