Heightened use of renewable energies across the entire Group and the first local initiatives in place
Green electricity: a major increase in 2009 The purchase of electricity generated from renewable energies has been an integral part of Société Générale's CSR policy since as far back as 2005. By making it a priority, the Group's aim is to encourage the development of these types of energies. Its first move was to have the Société Générale tower in La Défense powered exclusively using 100% green electricity (55 GWh per year). In the years since then, various Group entities have made green electricity part of their policy. In 2009, 14% of the Group's total electricity was generated using renewable energies. At a little over 88 GWh, this represents an increase of 47% on 2008. Today, 12 entities and three corporate center buildings are partially or entirely powered by electricity that is produced using renewable energies: ALD Luxembourg (6%), ALD Sweden (77%), Banque de Polynésie (1.8%), Gefa Bank (15.8%), General Bank of Greece (5.1%), Komerčni Banka (8.1%), SG Dublin (100%), SG Hambros (29.4%), SG London (100%), SG Zurich (100%, naturemade eco-label), SG Euro-VL Ireland (100%), Sogessur (0.8%) and the three corporate center towers (100% in the Valmy and Granite towers). The opening of the Group's Granite tower in La Défense, which is the first high-rise building in France to be awarded HQE certification (High Environmental Quality) (lien 5.2.2.1), resulted in a 7.4% increase on the figure for Société Générale's corporate center buildings in 2008. "Home-grown" renewable energies Banque de Polynésie on the island of Faaa: the Group's first "positive energy" branch
Banque de Polynésie (BDP) took advantage of the extension of its Faaa branch to contribute to the Group's commitment to protecting the environment. Inaugurated at the start of 2009, the new branch is Société Générale's first eco-design building.
The 252m² of photovoltaic panels installed on the roof produce an average 745 kWh per week and cover all of the branch's energy needs (600 to 650 kWh). Thanks to the extensive work also carried out on the building's insulation, air-conditioning and lighting, the branch's annual energy consumption was reduced to 130 kWh/m² (compared to an average 180 kWh/m² for Group branches overseas). The branch is also able to function without a generator. In the event of very bad weather, the battery units installed allow up to 24h of autonomy after which the system switches to the local electricity network which acts as a backup.
The first months have produced positive and encouraging results and several other projects are also on the drawing board: installation of 926m² of photovoltaic panels on the roof of the bank's head office branch; installation of solar and wind energy equipment at the Taravao branch, fitting of all BDP branches with natural lighting systems. These projects will also be accompanied by a series of key initiatives to heighten awareness amongst the bank's employees. The largest solar energy system connected to the West Africa network on the roof of Société Générale de Banques in Burkina Faso
Société Générale de Banques au Burkina (SGBB) has installed a 600m² solar powered generator capable of generating of 85,000 watts of electricity on the roof of its head office building in Ouagadougou. Up and running since Friday 5, February 2010, the energy produced by the generator is used directly by SGBB without being reinjected into the network to which the bank is connected. The 504 photovoltaic panels cover over one third of the energy needs of its four head office buildings.
Before work began on installing the generator, SGBB undertook a series of measures to optimise the buildings' energy consumption, particularly in terms of air-conditioning, and to heighten staff awareness.
Thanks to SGBB, Ouagadougou and Burkina Faso have taken a giant step forward in renewable energies.
In France, on the Nantes Titres Beaujoir site, a 350m2 facade made up of photovoltaic panels that are capable of generating 30 000 kWh of electricity each year will be installed in 2010.
