VP Bank’s business ecology

As a general rule, VP Bank sends out client asset statements only once a year; daily and quarterly statements are printed and dispatched only at the express request of the client. In recent years, this has led to a considerable reduction in the use of paper for forms and vouchers. For example, the number of printed forms has declined steadily from 655,000 in 2005 to 335,700 in 2014. The increase over 2013 was due to a change from semi-annual to quarterly account balancing. The number of envelopes was lowered from 1,500,000 in 2004 to 740,572 in the past financial year.

Paper consumption has steadily decreased from 68.03 tonnes in 2004 to 40.47 tonnes in 2013 and now stands at its second-lowest level since 2004. E-banking has contributed greatly to this reduction thanks to its e-Post functionality, the use of which has more than quintupled over the same time frame in sharp contrast to the consumption of paper.

VP Bank prints its publications – including this annual report – on environmentally certified paper. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification guarantees that the paper originates from wood harvested in exemplary, environmentally friendly forestry operations. Since 2010, payment order forms have also been printed on FSC-certified paper. In its choice of printing firms, VP Bank gives preference to those which offer climate-neutral printing services.

Thanks to the introduction of order cards and referral to documents in electronic form, the number of printed copies of the Bank’s annual and semi-annual reports has declined by more than 77 per cent over the past seven years; while a total of 7,000 copies of those publications were printed as late as 2007, this number had declined to a mere 1,600 in 2013. The new, user-friendly online version of the annual report will presumably reduce the print run even further.

For the Vaduz and Zurich locations, the number of e-mail documents has increased continuously: in 2007, the total was approximately 130,250; by 2011, it had risen to more than 696,270; in 2013, it reached 1,204,603; and in 2014, the total stood at 1,506,270. Compared to the 2013 figures (+28 per cent year-on-year), the latest annual number of e-mails reflects an additional 25 per cent increase. Since 2012, the Luxembourg location has been included in these statistics. It should also be noted that the electronic commu­nications of VP Bank Group include the footnote “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail”.

Water consumption once again declined, this time by more than 13 per cent versus the previous year and now lies below all readings recorded since 2004. This reduction was equally attributable to all facilities of VP Bank in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Water consumption per employee has dropped from 16.3 m3 in 2005 to 9.8 m3 in 2014.

Through numerous initiatives, VP Bank Group is focusing on the prudent consumption of energy. These measures range from the environmentally friendly manner in which the renovation of the Bank’s headquarters in Vaduz and the construction of the new service centre in Triesen were accomplished, to the use of geothermal energy for heating and cooling and the use of motion-activated lighting.

At the Liechtenstein facilities, most of the lighting is regulated by a light control system with motion detectors. This technology can reduce power consumption by 20 to 40 per cent compared to manually activated lighting. In the procurement of new means of lighting, preference is given to today’s highly efficient LED systems. In 2014, LED lamps were purchased instead of the once-customary neon tubes (which will be replaced during the course of 2015). The energy savings afforded by the use of LED lamps rather than traditional lighting sources amounts to roughly 75 per cent.

Total power consumption at the Bank’s Liechtenstein facil­ities has been on the decline for six years, and in 2014, levels once again stood below those last seen in 2004. This is thanks to efficiency-enhancing measures, including an optimised cooling aggregate in Triesen for office air conditioning, which was installed in 2012. In 2013, a new climate control system was also installed at the main office in Vaduz and a second system commenced operation in 2014. The purchase of cutting-edge servers has had a positive influence on power consumption as well.

For more than 15 years, a photovoltaic power generator has been in operation on the roof of the building in Vaduz. It supplies environmentally friendly energy that is fed into VP Bank’s power grid. Owing to a rejuvenation of the control system for this installation, power generation from photo­voltaics increased continually from 2009 to 2011. However, over the past three years it has decreased, mainly due to unfavourable weather conditions. The plan is to reverse this recent trend by installing a more efficient system.

VP Bank has realised massive savings on heating costs. Heating oil consumption in 2014 declined by roughly 33 per cent versus the previous year. The amount of natural gas consumption also fell sharply. The major contributor to these decreases – apart from the mild weather – was the optimised heat recovery system at the Giessen building in Vaduz, which went into operation back in March 2013. Moreover, the old oil heating system was permanently decommissioned in September 2014. As of 2015, heating will be provided solely via natural gas and heat recovery from the cooling units.

VP Bank focuses on energy efficiency. A functional specification document was therefore created for the procurement of new cooling units, which stipulates that new equipment is to be fitted with electronically controlled expansion valves and heat recovery capabilities. These modifications afford greater energy efficiency and store energy that can be used for room heating and hot water generation.

Modern ventilation systems featuring heat recovery make use of the ambient heat loss in offices and work areas. These installations were one of the reasons why the Bank’s annual natural gas consumption – after a 66 per cent drop in 2013 – fell yet again by more than 35 per cent. For 2015, there are plans to replace the ventilation control centre at the main office for reasons of efficiency and hygiene.

The differing types of buildings at VP Bank Group call for an overall concept that brings all of its Liechtenstein facilities up to the same level in terms of power technology. The goal of this concept is to harmonise all of the existing installations, optimise the distribution of power and efficiently exploit any ambient heat loss. To that end, energy flow meters were installed in 2009 in order to record and optimise the flows of energy from heating and cooling. The evaluation is adjusted to take seasonal fluctuations into account and the results are considered in the measures for fine-tuning the Bank’s overall energy supply.

In addition, the energy supply project foresees the continued use of cutting-edge technologies that enable heating on the basis of heat recovery. In 2014, a renovation of the main office in Vaduz was initiated. It involved the installation of a new central cooling aggregate with heat recovery capabilities (completed last March) and a new heating system (completed last October).

The central cooling aggregate affords both operational safety and energy efficiency. Each of the two units is equipped with an electronic control system that steers two distinct cooling circulations. With the help of this control mechanism, the equipment can adapt its functions much more precisely than ever before to the climate conditions in individual areas. Warmth is generated as a by-product, which can then be recycled for heating purposes.

Now that this system has been put into service, the lion’s share of the overall concept has been realised. The next step is to plan the use of groundwater in Vaduz. Through the implementation of this measure, the existing subterranean water can be used for cooling purposes in summer and heating in winter. Initial discussions with the Liechtenstein Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) have already been held and two pilot holes drilled. The OEP has examined the viability of the plan – the formal approval and realisation can be expected in 2016.

A separate, more detailed energy report for the Liechtenstein facilities will be drawn up. The report can be accessed on the website of VP Bank.

Based on a new service contract, the previously existing photocopiers at the offices in Liechtenstein were replaced with new devices during the course of 2013 and 2014. The new copiers are made from recyclable components and use environmentally friendly polymerised toner, which, in its production, generates 40 per cent fewer CO2 emissions than conventional toners. Another major advantage is their low TEC (typical electricity consumption) rate, which expresses the average weekly power consumption of electronic products based on their normal office use. 

This new generation of equipment is an all-in-one solution (printer, scanner, copier and fax). It switches to sleep mode more rapidly and requires considerably less energy than previous models. This in turn helps VP Bank to reduce its operating costs and fulfils the goal of continually applying new technologies to minimise energy consumption and hence further reduce CO2 emissions. An external service provider has been commissioned to handle the maintenance of these devices.

The targeted savings were achieved in 2014: they amount to roughly CHF 100,000 per year. The useful life of this new generation of equipment has been set at 5 years.

Ever since 2004, waste separation has been the order of the day at VP Bank Group. Newspapers and magazines are collected and recycled separately from other residual paper. Glass, cardboard, polystyrene, PET bottles and organic waste each have their own receptacles. The total amount of waste generated in 2014 (167 tonnes) was the lowest since 2004. The per-employee figure of 0.355 tonnes was also the lowest amount in ten years.

The residual paper discarded by VP Bank is shredded in an in-house recycling unit and compressed into briquettes. With this process, roughly 28 tonnes of paper briquettes are produced per year at the Liechtenstein location. The briquettes are collected by a local recycler and taken to an incinerator.

Responsibility for the Bank’s environmental sustainability is borne by the IT Infrastructure Technology unit. VP Bank is a member of the Swiss Network for Sustainability and Management. 

The Mobility Management project group of the Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce and Industry is another body in which VP Bank actively participates. VP Bank is also a member of “Öbu”, the Swiss network for sustainable business operations and think tank for environmental, social and management topics.

VP Bank has been participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) since 2008. CDP is an international non-profit organisation that has the goal of motivating companies and communities to lower their CO2 emissions and use water in a sustainable manner. On behalf of investors, CDP Switzerland gathers data and information on CO2 emissions, climate risks as well as the reduction goals and strategies of the largest exchange-listed Swiss companies. The findings are published in an annual report.

Seven years ago, VP Bank introduced a mobility concept at the Head Office in Vaduz. It features financial incentives for using public transport as well as a graduated fee structure for employee parking spaces. The concept is self-financing: rental proceeds from the car park are used for bonus payments to employees who forgo the use of personal cars and therefore do not occupy parking spaces.

This concept also motivates employees to form carpools. In addition, VP Bank Group offers the free use of Mobility Cars, an arrangement that has met with an enthusiastic response. A favourable trend was to be seen again in the total number of kilometres driven for business purposes in employees’ own vehicles: in 2014, it was 67 per cent lower than the total before the introduction of the Mobility Car concept in 2007. The use of a videoconferencing system has helped to reduce the business travel activities of employees.

Employees are also offered a free pass for bus and railway transport within Liechtenstein. The revenues from the Bank’s mobility management are in part used for the reimbursement of public transport tickets. 77 employees benefited from this in 2014.

The bottom line of the mobility concept is impressive: all goals have been achieved – a reduction in automobile traffic, the fostering of environmental awareness, the promotion of public transport and an elimination of the shortage of parking paces. This concept is an example to the entire region. In March 2011,VP Bank Group’s mobility management approach was awarded the “Zurich Climate Prize”, which honours measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.