Rothschild Group / Rothschild.com - One of the world's leading independent investment banking organizations providing financial services to governments, corporations and individuals worldwide..

We recognise that Rothschild’s day to day operations have an impact on the environment and we are fully committed to doing what we can to reducing that impact, to promoting environmental awareness amongst our people, and to achieving continuous improvement in our environmental performance.

Our greatest priority is to reduce year on year our use of energy, particularly electricity. We are currently achieving significant efficiencies through continued monitoring and adjustment of heating and cooling systems.

Air-travel and the ability to meet our clients face to face is an important part of our business, and a significant contributor to our overall CO2 emissions. This is particularly true if we fly Business Class where we take up a greater percentage of the plane’s space. In recognition of this, we have recently launched a Green Flights scheme which offers employees who fly long-haul for business the opportunity to trade-down to a lower cabin class, and in return Rothschild makes a donation to the charity of the traveller’s choice.

We promote a policy of reducing waste, reusing what we or others can, and recycling the rest. Our recycling programme currently covers glass, aluminium, plastic bottles, batteries, toner cartridges and paper and card. We regularly donate unwanted furniture, PCs and other goods to our local community partners and we have won Gold Awards in the Clean City Awards for three years running.

Communicating our environmental values to our people, and engaging them in our efforts is key to our success. One of the ways in which we do this is by offering regular lunchtime talks from experts in climate change and other environmental fields. We also encourage staff to volunteer, through the Rothschild in the Community programme, for projects which enhance the environments of our neighbouring communities.

Environmental matters are the responsibility of the Rothschild in the Community Committee, chaired by a member of the Main Board. Responsibility for day to day policy development is delegated to an Environment Committee.

Some of what we have achieved in the last two years…

• Reduced energy-related carbon emissions by at least 1000 tonnes against 2007/8 levels
• Introduced a ‘Green Flights’ scheme for employees who fly for business
• Introduced recycled paper in UK offices
• Set printer settings to double-sided where possible
• Swapped disposable coffee cups for reusable mugs
• Introduced a ‘Bike to Work’ scheme
• Launched quarterly environment staff updates.

Read the Rothschild Environmental Policy (March 2010) here.

We are members of The Prince’s Mayday Network, and are proud to be represented on the Mayday Leadership Team. The Mayday Network is the collaborative movement of UK businesses committed to action on climate change. Named after the international ‘Mayday mayday’ distress signal, it was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, as a call to action to business, at the first Mayday Summit in 2007.

The network aims to inspire, engage, support and challenge by helping businesses along the steps of the Mayday Journey towards a low carbon economy, and by celebrating their achievements. Businesses in the Network are encouraged to take action in their own businesses, and collaborate with each other and with key partners to address climate change and create a low carbon economy.  The Mayday Network is currently nearly 3000 businesses strong.