Becoming "carbon neutral" means cutting net emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels to zero in an attempt to slow global warming.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank's domestic operations will be "carbon neutral" in 2010, Canada's second-largest bank pledged on Tuesday, three weeks after it got a low score in a report ranking global banks' "green" policies.
Becoming "carbon neutral" means cutting net emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels to zero in an attempt to slow global warming.
"Reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions is a key element of our ongoing commitment to take climate change and the environment seriously," Ed Clark, president and chief executive of TD Bank said in a statement.
Toronto-based TD promised last year that it would set a target in 2008 for cutting emissions and said on Tuesday its plan will start with energy savings programs and buying "green" power, such as wind energy.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The bank, which has a sprawling branch network across Canada, will make investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions outside its own operations to offset emissions it cannot eliminate.
TD got the 12th lowest score in a January 10 report on what the world's 40 largest banks and asset managers are doing to address climate change.
In the report by Ceres, a U.S. coalition of investors and groups that promote corporate responsibility and collectively hold more than US$4 trillion in investments, TD ranked behind the two other Canadian banks included in the survey: Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia.
TD said on Tuesday it will set a target next year for reducing gas emissions at its U.S. operations following the planned integration of its TD Banknorth operations and Commerce Bancorp, which it is in the process of buying.
(Reporting by Nicole Mordant; Editing by Peter Galloway)
