Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB), parent of Berkshire Bank, recently announced it has started a new initiative to become a more environmentally sustainable company. The program, called AMEB Green, is focused on boosting Berkshire’s social, environmental, and financial performance by engaging employees and customers in environmentally conscious behaviors, the banking company said in a […]
Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB), parent of Berkshire Bank, recently announced it has started a new initiative to become a more environmentally sustainable company.
The program, called AMEB Green, is focused on boosting Berkshire’s social, environmental, and financial performance by engaging employees and customers in environmentally conscious behaviors, the banking company said in a news release issued on Earth Day (April 22).
Berkshire Bank’s AMEB Green strategies include:
- Reduce paper consumption by 10 percent over the next three years by using technology, promoting online-banking services to customers, promoting reusable products in its offices, and engaging employees and customers in behaviors that eliminate overall paper usage. (In 2014, Berkshire Bank developed a campaign to move customers from paper statements to e-statements.)
- Reduce energy consumption by 10 percent over the next three years by implementing energy usage standards, temperature and thermostat regulation, and non-essential energy usage reduction.
- Commit 15 percent of the company’s volunteer service to environmental community causes as well as develop products that promote green banking options and implement recycling standards across the banking company.
“Environmentally friendly business delivers value to our clients, returns for our shareholders, and helps strengthen the economy,” Richard Marotta, executive vice president and chief administrative and risk officer at Berkshire Bank, said in the news release. “AMEB Green was developed by a cross-functional committee of employees that looked at policies, products, operations, and behaviors to identify goals and key steps to become a more environmentally sustainable company.”
To kick off AMEB Green, Berkshire Bank Foundation, the charitable arm of Berkshire Bank, made a contribution to the Arbor Day Foundation to plant one tree in honor of each of Berkshire’s employees to celebrate the launch of the initiative. Also, over a two-week period in late April/early May, Berkshire employees planned to help beautify parks, plant trees, and clean up riverfronts across its geographic footprint, the release stated.
Berkshire Bank has 98 branches in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. Locally, Berkshire Bank ranks number 8 in deposit market share in the 16-county Central New York market with $916 million in deposits, good for a 3.5 percent market share, through 18 branches in the area, according to June 30, 2014, FDIC data, the latest available.