Bank of Valletta has taken yet another step towards reducing its carbon footprint through the replacement of the lighting on the façade of its Head Office in Santa Venera with low consumption light fittings.

It is estimated that the replacement of metal-halide lamps with LED light fittings will reduce electricity consumption by over 24,000 kilowatt hours per year, translating into a reduction of over 26,000 kgs of harmful Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere.

This initiative forms part of a long-term project that Bank of Valletta has embarked upon in its bid to minimise its carbon footprint. The initial phase of the project involved a full lighting audit of its offices and branches, as well as the usage of lower consumption fittings. The second phase saw the installation of over 300 photo-voltaic panels generating  135,000 units per annum reducing  a further 118,000 kgs of CO2.

Given that the average tree absorbs 7 kg of carbon dioxide every year, it would take over 20,000 trees to absorb this amount of CO2.

“The greatest challenge in implementing clean energy solutions is dealing with old infrastructure in existing buildings, which need to be upgraded and converted to cleaner more efficient systems using alternative power sources,” said Mark Marmara, Environmental Responsibility Manager at Bank of Valletta. “We are also looking into our operations with efforts being made to introduce initiatives aimed at reducing the use of paper and generate less waste,” continued Mr Marmara.

Bank of Valletta’s green strategy recognises its people as the biggest asset. Significant efforts are made to increase awareness about environmental responsibility both at work and at home with initiatives and seminars organized regularly.  Only last week, the Bank in conjunction with the Malta Business Bureau organized a seminar for BOV staff wherein, through the ‘Investing Water Project’ best practices for water conservation were explained and discussed.