2014 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
Ziraat Bank and the Environment
Ziraat Bank engages in an ongoing effort to make efficient and economical use of the resources such as energy, water, natural gas, and paper that it consumes in the conduct of its business and service processes. Under the Sustainability Policy that was announced in 2014, the Bank has embarked upon a process of creating a new and systematic structure for its efforts to manage its direct environmental impact.
Some of the projects that the Bank undertook in this area in 2014 are discussed briefly below.
Paper ranks high among the supplies used the most at Ziraat Bank.
For Ziraat Bank, recycling and recovering waste paper to make it economically useful is just as high a priority as is optimizing its paper consumption.
As of 19 September 2012, Ziraat Bank stopped using paper for the dispatch of internal communications throughout the bank. Since then, all such communications have been in electronic format. In 2014 alone this practice prevented the use of 5,764,660 sheets of A4 paper.
Double-sided hard-copy printouts and e-faxes
When hard-copy printouts must be taken, the multifunction printers installed at Ziraat Bank reduce paper consumption by printing on both sides of the sheet. Besides conserving paper this practice is also calculated as having reduced the bank’s total CO2 emissions by 523 tons in 2014.
Handling about a million fax communications on average every year in the conduct of its business, in 2014 Ziraat Bank completed its changeover to electronic-format fax transmissions. All of the Bank’s headquarters, regional, and branch units now send, receive, and archive only electronic-format faxes and no hard-copy printouts of them are taken. Besides conserving paper, this practice has also increased the security and accountability of the Bank’s fax communication processes.
Double-sided printing project: 2014 Environmental Report
CO2 emissions prevented (kg) |
# pages saved through double-sided printing | # trees saved from harvesting by double-sided printing |
 |
 |
 |
| 523,134 | 16,248,951 | 2,029 |
# faxes processed in 2014
Incoming |
Outgoing |
 |
482,105 |
513,162 |
3.5 million sheetsVirtual Loan-Account File Project
The goal of the Virtual Loan-Account File Project is to handle all credit and loan-related documentation from creditworthiness investigations and offers to disbursements and servicing entirely in electronic format both by scanning paperwork and creating electronic-format documents. When this project becomes operational, it will also be possible for all involved/authorized units to access and view this documentation online.
In the first stage of this project, the paper forms formerly used in the credit proposal/allocation process were prepared in electronic format instead and without taking hardcopy printouts. The second stage of the project involved the electronic-format documentation of the credit-rating and proposal processes. It is expected that this project will substantially reduce Ziraat Bank’s use of paper. It is estimated that it prevented the use of about 3.5 million sheets in 2014 alone.
In 2014 efforts continued to be made in the case of documents that the law requires are obtained from other agencies and organizations when making credit allocation decisions to get these from their sources in electronic format as well. Not only will that help such outside concerns in their own efforts to reduce paper use; for the Bank, it will increase employee motivation and customer satisfaction by speeding up processing.
In January 2013, the Bank began obtaining electronic-format documents and information required of firms taking out loans to finance investments. This also saves paper, labor, time, and space. Documentation used in performing firms’ financial analyses is also being circulated among units in electronic format.
The practice of sending out documents concerning loan applications approved by Ziraat Bank by mail or fax has been terminated. These documents are now being transmitted in electronic format along with the original application appended to them. A centralized retail credit allocation system encompassing all Ziraat Bank branches became operational as of 12 March 2013.
Ziraat Bank is taking part in the Treasury Undersecretariat’s program of converting all bookkeeping records and other documentation to electronic format. In 2015 the bank’s branches will begin maintaining their daybook and general ledger accounts in electronic format only. It is expected that this will prevent the use of at least a million sheets of A4 paper a year.
Substantial amounts of paper were saved in 2014 thanks to the Centralized Bulk Statement Dispatch Project.
Ziraat Bank now sends statements of all transactions performed by its Operations Center to customers by email.
Under the Centralized Bulk Statement Dispatch Project, transaction notes and statements for transactions which must be so reported as well as for those which requests are made are sent to customers by email.
In 2014 the Centralized Bulk Statement Dispatch Project prevented the use of 12,762,354 sheets of A4 paper.
Conserving paper with electronic-format statements and invoices
The project that was begun in 2013 to send out electronic-format rather than paper invoices documenting communication services continued in 2014. Considering that more than 170,000 telephone bills were handled last year alone, the huge savings in paper use that result from this procedure may be appreciated.
Ziraat Bank is the first and only bank in Turkey that issues electronic-format mortgage deeds of release.
Ziraat Bank works together with many different agencies and organizations in order to provide its customers with faster and better-quality service. One example of this is to be seen in the protocol which the bank signed with the General Directorate of Deeds & Cadastral Surveys to permit mortgages on real estate properties to be released electronically. Under this agreement, mortgage loan borrowers’ requests for deeds of release are sent electronically to the Ziraat Bank Operations Center, which then sends them electronically to the appropriate deeds registry.
In August 2014 Ziraat Bank became the first financial institution in Turkey to issue electronic-format mortgage deeds of release. It is still the only one capable of doing so. The issuance of electronic-format mortgage deeds of release prevented 2,540 sheets of A4 paper from being used last year.
Electronic-format inspection and internal control reporting saved 174,000 sheets of A4 paper.
Under a project being carried out to issue electronic-format bank inspection and internal control reports at Ziraat Bank, new auditing and control models have been introduced. All such reports for branches are now being issued in this way. As a result of this project, hard-copy reports are no longer being issued for branches and this practice has generated substantial savings in paper. The audit reports for headquarters and other units can now be prepared and viewed online. This has already made it possible to reduce paperwork costs.
The electronic-format preparation, issuance, and circulation of audit reports by the Ziraat Bank Board of Inspectors and of internal control reports by the Ziraat Bank Department of Internal Control & Compliance prevents the use of about 174,000 sheets of A4 paper every year.
E-signature & Virtual Inspection Archives Project
Under the Board of Auditors’ E-Signature & Virtual Archives Project, handwritten signatures are no longer accepted on documents at Ziraat Bank; electronic signatures must be used instead.
Now that the virtual archives project has become operational, all audit reports and Board of Auditors documentation are being archived digitally. This practice is generating substantial savings both in paperwork processing costs and in time. The digital archiving of audit reports has already prevented the use of about 25,000 sheets of A4 paper. Compared with the cost of maintaining physical archives, digital archives are also considerably more economical as well.
Potentially risk-fraught transactions are identified by means of a variety of scenarios deployed on a daily and monthly basis by the Board of Audittors’ Centralized Audit Team. This allows necessary checks to be made through the system without any physical documentation being required while also increasing the operational security of the Bank’s business and transactions.
At Ziraat Bank, it is assumed that the project to transfer investigatory processes to the central system will prevent the use of at least 20,000 sheets of A4 paper every year.A project to transfer investigatory processes to the central system will be completed in 2015.
In 2014 the Board of Auditors initiated a project to incorporate its investigatory processes into the central system as well. With the completion of this project, which is expected in early 2015, it will be possible for investigation reports to be composed, issued, circulated, and viewed online.
The preparation and dissemination of electronic-format rather than hard-copy investigation reports will generate considerable savings not only in paper but also in time, cost, and energy. If the investigation reports prepared in 2014 are taken as a benchmark, this project is likely to prevent the use of at least 20,000 sheets of A4 paper every year.
500 tons of used paper was recycled at Ziraat Bank in 2014.
Since 2003, documents whose retention by Ziraat Bank is no longer mandated by law together with the waste paper that the Bank’s units and branches generate has been sold to licensed firms for use in recycling.
In this way, the Bank helps reduce the amounts of new raw materials needed in paper manufacturing.
In 2014 a total of 192 tons of waste paper generated by headquarters units was disposed of in this way. Another 500 tons generated by the Bank’s branches was sold under contract to two licensed recycling firms.
The process of reducing paper use in the conduct of the Bank’s operations continues. In 2014 the Bank purchased 1,915 tons of paper, of which 775 tons (290,000 packs) consisted of A4 and 1,140 tons consisted of untrimmed raw paper.
IT and other electrical and electronic scrap
Ziraat Bank sells discarded IT equipment (computers, printers, photocopiers, etc), equipment consisting largely of sheet metal (air conditioner units, housings, etc), storage batteries, and ATM units to environment ministry-licensed firms authorized to transport and process such scrap. This prevents the scrap from causing environmental harm while also ensuring that it is recycled for use as inputs by others.
Chemical waste
When replacing the chemicals in fire extinguishers that have passed their expiration date, Ziraat Bank works with firms licensed to collect and dispose of such materials. By working only with duly supervised and authorized firms, the Bank ensures that the chemicals are properly disposed of without causing environmental harm.
Destruction of spent toner cartridges
As required by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning’s “Regulation on the control of electrical and electronic equipment waste” published in issue 28300 of the official gazette on 22 May 2012, Ziraat Bank has begun surrendering its branches’ spent toner cartridges for destruction by their original manufacturers.
In keeping with its environmental protection approach, Ziraat Bank seeks to constantly improve the eco-friendliness of all aspects of its branch network and other service premises.
Ziraat Bank takes an R&D approach when identifying the plumbing, electrical components, fittings, furniture, furnishings and similar inputs that it uses in its own construction projects. Attention is given to the functionality and recyclability of such materials and preference is given to concepts whose environmental impact is potentially the least.
As part of its efforts to minimize the environmental impact of its construction projects, Ziraat Bank has waste generated during the conduct of work transferred under supervision to locations designated by local municipal authorities. In all such undertakings, efforts are made to contribute beneficially to the environment through effective supervision that ensures that waste is properly removed from building sites.
In 2014, 274 Ziraat Bank branches were rehabilitated in light of sustainability criteria.
In keeping with its efforts to expand the scope of sustainability concepts throughout the Bank, alterations were carried out at 274 of the Bank’s branches. In the project design and application stages, precedence was given to the use of innovative, composite materials which transcended classical criteria and whose environmental impact was considered as well. In the case of structures that are likely eventually to be demolished, attention is given as early as the project-costing stage to the recovery and reuse of materials.
In architectural design, attention is given to projects that make use of natural daylight, potentially eco-harmful materials are avoided, and precedence is given to applications that will quickly pay for themselves within two years or so.
During 2014, nine of the Bank’s service buildings underwent controlled demolition and their materials were recovered. The Bank has set itself a target of increasing the number of its sustainability-friendly branches to 400 in 2015.
One of the goals of Ziraat Bank Data Centers renovation project is to reduce the Bank’s annual energy consumption to around 4,226,700 kWh.
During 2014 Ziraat Bank continued to work on a large number of projects aimed at reducing its energy use.
The Ziraat Bank Data Centers Project
Ziraat Bank is in the process of reorganizing its data centers in light of its current needs.
The Ziraat Bank Data Centers Project has a twofold IT focus that concentrates separately on:
In the design, construction, installation, and relocation of data centers, attention is to be given to the interactions among all of these services.
The gains that will be achieved through the Ziraat Bank Data Centers Project may be summed up as follows:
The Ziraat Bank Data Centers are currently operating with infrastructure which has been in service for more than a decade and which consumes about 6,570,000 kWh of electricity a year on average. One of the goals of these centers’ renovation is to reduce their average annual energy consumption to around 4,226,700 kWh.
This estimated 2,343,300 kWh reduction in energy use should generate cost savings on the order of USD 300 thousand a year.
Green IT Project
One of Ziraat Bank’s sustainability priorities is to conserve energy by making more efficient use of energy resources.
The Green IT project that Ziraat Bank first initiated in 2005 to optimize the energy use of the computers employed in its branch, regional, and headquarters units has been continuing successfully ever since.
The savings generated by the automatic shutdown of the Bank’s computers when they are not actively being used and adherence to other Green IT policies and practices are put at about TL 5 million a year. The benefits of Green IT to Ziraat Bank consist of:
E-signatures in tendering processes
Ziraat Bank has adopted the use of e-signatures in its tendering processes in order to save on time as well as on the fuel and paper that would otherwise be used by/for personnel and travel. This helps minimize the use of expendables in the conduct of tendering procedures, averts the environmental harm such use might cause, and also permits labor and time to be used for other purposes.
Centralized spot-checks
Performed by the Ziraat Bank Centralized Spot-Check Team, centralized spot-checks are a method of randomly checking ordinary transactions according to different scenarios at predetermined intervals.
Centralized spot checks are performed by the team online and without any physical documentation being required. The results of these checks are reported in the same way. This saves time, expense, and energy while also eliminating the need for paper.
Instant controls
An Instant Control Project is to be undertaken that will allow internal controllers to check branches’ transactions the moment they take place. Whenever a branch transaction crosses a specific risk threshold, it will be examined immediately by the Instant Control Team. If the transaction is determined to be in error, the branch will be notified immediately so that it can be corrected the same day. Besides reducing the costs incurred by inadvertencies, this project will also save on time, energy, and paper use.
Fuel-consumption criteria in vehicle procurements
Another way in which Ziraat Bank seeks to minimize the adverse environmental impact of its operations is the attention that it gives to fuel-consumption criteria when purchasing or leasing vehicles. The fuel that vehicles being considered for purchase or rental require is treated as an element of total cost of ownership while fuel economy is included as one of the criteria of tendering specifications. Besides lowering the vehicles’ environmental impact, this practice also incidentally reduces total fossil fuel consumption at the national level.
Changeover to LED illumination
Ziraat Bank seeks to conserve energy as much as possible in the conduct of its service operations. The Bank reduces its illumination costs by installing more energy-efficient LED lighting systems in its branches, signage, and ATM housings. Ziraat Bank is also minimizing its use of fluorescent lighting owing to the human and environmental health and safety issues that it poses.
Ziraat Bank completed its changeover to a new WAN structure in 2014.
A project to convert all branch data lines to a new WAN (wide area network) structure was completed in 2014. Under this project, data transfer speeds were increased and cabling was also simplified without the need for new hardware.
Centralized monitoring of ATM units
Ziraat Bank owns and operates an extensive ATM network. A project to monitor these units centrally and also to equip them with biometric access-control features that is currently in progress is slated for completion in February 2016.
With the completion of this project, it will also be possible to centrally monitor ATM housings’ ambient temperatures and energy use. By collecting and analyzing such data, energy use can be reduced by making fine-tuned adjustments.
Ziraat Bank achieves substantial savings in time, cost, and resource use through the centralized inspection of its branches.
With the commissioning of the New Auditing Model at Ziraat Bank in 2014, it has become possible to perform inspections on a number of small-scale branches based on an analysis of their year-long risk exposure directly from headquarters and without having to actually visit a branch’s physical premises. This achieves significant savings in terms of time, cost, and energy.
Identifying risky transactions by the Inspection Scenario Team saves time, cost, and energy.
Scenarios have been composed for use by the Inspection Scenario Team to identify transactions that are incompatible with Ziraat Bank’s corporate risk attitudes. These scenarios enable the team’s members to spot potential risks among thousands of transactions
By enabling Bank inspectors to focus their attentions on such risks, this practice achieves significant savings in terms of time, cost, and energy.
Seeking to conserve energy as much as possible in its service operations, Ziraat Bank reduces its illumination costs by installing more energy-efficient LED lighting systems.Environmental impact mitigation
Ziraat Bank’s indirect environmental impact
Ziraat Bank’s indirect environmental impact manifests itself in its product and service presentation processes.
Ziraat Bank provides financing support to a wide range of undertakings, especially in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, which are capable of playing a key role in combating environmental degradation and climate change. For the same purpose, the Bank also supplies high added-value products and services to tens of thousands of individuals and SMEs that are active in agriculture and many other business lines all over Turkey.
More detailed information about the Bank’s activities under this heading during the reporting period is given in the “Customers” section beginning on page 50 of this report.
Ziraat Bank gives particular importance to supporting projects which will generate added value for the national economy. In this respect, the Bank supports energy sector. The ratio of the energy sector loans in Ziraat Bank’s corporate lending portfolio is 6%, with outstanding balance of TL 7.5 billion.
More effective indirect environmental impact management through sectoral specialization
Believing in the value and importance of sectoral specialization and in keeping with its corporate strategies, Ziraat Bank has begun more effectively managing the indirect impact that its products and services have on the environment and on climate change. The Bank has set up organizational units that specialize in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and energy project investments. This makes it possible for the Bank to keep a much closer watch on sector-specific issues such as technology, changes in the legal framework, and investment tax incentives and thus to propose potent value-creation solutions to its customers.
The importance of the energy sector and its contribution to Ziraat Bank’s loan portfolio
Ziraat Bank gives particular importance to supporting sectors and projects which are capable of generating added value for the national economy while also reducing the country’s foreign dependency, especially in the case of energy.
Keeping Turkey supplied with the energy it needs currently accounts for some 60% of the country’s foreign trade deficit. Investments in the energy sector will therefore not only help reduce that deficit but will also ensure that energy is available when and where it is required.
According to 31 December 2014 figures published by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, Ziraat Bank accounted for a 7.7% share of all the lendings made to the Turkish energy sector.
As of the same date, the outstanding balance of the energy sector loans in Ziraat Bank’s corporate lending portfolio amounted to TL 7.5 billion or about 6% of the total. An analysis shows that TL 4.1 billion consisted of cash loans while the remaining TL 3.4 billion reflected the Bank’s non-cash credit exposure.
Ziraat Bank provides financing support to energy projects based on its assessment of the nature, terms, and merits of the investment. The Bank also serves as a conduit for funding made available for such projects by international financial institutions such as the World Bank. For more detailed information, please click here.
Electronic-format documentation concerning Ziraat Bank’s energy sector financing activities, including the outcomes of reporting processes and detailed analyses of sectorally-important issues is accessible to internal stakeholders through the bank’s online portal.
In order to improve Ziraat Bank’s ability to identify and meet the funding needs of the energy sector, bank personnel take part in training on a variety of energy-related issues that is provided by external consultants.
Ziraat Bank will remain steadfast in its commitment to protecting the environment.
Behaving as a responsible corporate citizen and abiding by the principles and goals set out in its Sustainability Policy, Ziraat Bank will remain steadfast in its commitment to protect the environment in 2015 and the years that follow. Among its efforts to enhance the environmental added value that it creates, the Bank plans to have Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification obtained for the Ziraat Towers project that is being built at the International Financial Center Complex in İstanbul’s Ataşehir district.
Aggregate 2014 carbon footprint of all Ziraat Bank headquarters units
The aggregate carbon footprint of all Ziraat Bank headquarters units is calculated as 8,063.62 tons in 2014. Of this total, 3,661.20 tons consists of direct and 4,402.42 tons consists of indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
Total energy consumed and emissions generated directly by Ziraat Bank headquarters units (Scope 1)*
|
2014 |
2013 |
Scope 1: % change |
|
Headquarters |
Direct Energy Consumption |
Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
|
Natural gas (m3) |
509,790 |
963.79 |
1,470 |
-34.44 |
Gasoline (liters) |
29,395 |
79.14 |
81 |
-2.30 |
Diesel (liters) |
972,479 |
2,618.27 |
1,015 |
157.96 |
TOTAL |
|
3,661.20 |
2,566 |
42.68 |
* The 42.68% rise in Scope 1 emissions is due essentially to an increase in the number of diesel-powered vehicles used by headquarters units.
Total energy consumed and emissions generated indirectly by Ziraat Bank headquarters units (Scope 2)
|
2014 |
2013 |
|
|
Headquarters |
Indirect Energy Consumption |
Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
Scope 2: % change |
Electricity Procurements (kwh) |
9,588,280 |
4,402.42 |
4,732 |
-6.96 |
Ziraat Bank keeps track of the energy-use and emissions performance of its regional offices and branches located all over Turkey. In 2014 the Bank’s regional offices and branches consumed a total of 3,465,799 liters of gasoline and diesel fuel, the direct (Scope 1) emissions of which are calculated as 9,331.19 tons of equivalent CO2 (tCO2e). In 2014 the Bank’s regional offices and branches also consumed 6,052,905 kWh of electricity, the indirect (Scope 2) emissions of which are calculated as 29,868.70 tCO2e.
Ziraat Bank’s water consumption and water footprint in 2014
Water Consumption |
2013 |
% |
2014 |
Water consumption - Headquarters units (m3) |
91,751 |
-11.10 |
81,569.69 |
TOTAL |
91,751 |
-11.10 |
81,569.69 |
