Responsible and Sustainable Business

At Bank of Ireland UK, behaving in a responsible and sustainable way is fundamental to achieving our purpose of enabling our customers, colleagues and communities to thrive.

Communities

 

Bank of Ireland UK was included for the first time within the successful accreditation for the Business Working Responsibly Mark. This Mark, which covers indicators across Community, Workplace, Marketplace, Environment and Governance, is an independently audited standard for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability.
Business Working Responsibly logo

Bank of Ireland Group affirmed its commitment to be part of the global drive for more responsible banking operations when it signed the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative Principles for Responsible Banking in October 2019. The UN Principles help to align the banking sector with the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Bank of Ireland Group achieved recertification and transition to the latest version of the environmental and energy standards ISO 14001 and ISO 50001. The achievement of these international certifications is part of a broader environmental programme to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 50% by 2030. We continue to integrate climate risks into our strategy planning processes.

Bank of Ireland Group has published its statement on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking here. The Statement sets out the steps and measures we have taken to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking does not occur within our supply chain or business operations.

Our UK Community Giving Fund provides grants to community organisations and charities across the UK in support of projects that promote financial, physical and mental wellbeing. In 2019, we made grants totalling £80,000.

Our Begin Together Community Fund helps to make our communities stronger by providing grants to future focused projects. Working with The Community Foundation for Ireland and The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, we support not for profit organisations to improve the financial, physical or mental wellbeing of communities. Find out more here.

The Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund, in partnership with Business to Arts, and Arts and Business NI, continues a long legacy of support for the Arts. We have committed a total of €1 million between 2020 and 2022 for projects across all art forms, funding artists to collaborate within their community and bring to life ideas that inspire us all. Learn more about the Begin Together Arts Fund by visiting here.

We have built long-term relationships with many community organisations across the UK:

In Northern Ireland, we proudly support community-based, business and sporting activities, including: Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge, a new secondary school competition that will see students learn essential financial skills; and Sponsorship of Invent 2019, an annual competition run by Catalyst Inc. which attracts more than 100 entrepreneurs and inventors from across Northern Ireland.
Bank of Ireland Youth Ambassador James Patrice is pictured at the launch of the Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge, with students Katie Farmer (15) from Castleknock and Colin Eiffe (13) from Rathcoffey.

In Bristol, our long standing relationship with Merchants’ Academy was strengthened, with the launch in July of a 3-year programme of Personal Finance Days to help prepare students for their financial futures. We also run school assemblies to raise awareness of work experience, CVs, job applications and mock interviews and sponsors, and students regularly visit our office at Temple Quay to learn about the wide range of roles in the workplace and understand the qualifications needed.

In London, we support a number of local community and charity initiatives, including the Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day.