Environmental responsibility

It is clear at present that many raw materials are becoming more expensive as a result of reduced supply, increased demand and stricter government regulations. For Nordnet, this does not involve any risks that are critical to the business, but to a varying degree, it involves increased costs for transportation, energy and other basic resources.

At Nordnet, we see the transformation into an economy based on more expensive resources as an opportunity and a competitive advantage. Nordnet is characterized by an absence of traditional local branch offices. Instead, our customers are guided through clever and highly resource-efficient IT solutions.

Focus on energy consumption

As an efficient Internet bank, Nordnet does not need much office space or extensive international travel – our main environmental impact emanates from the servers that run our website around the clock and other services. In 2011, Nordnet used a total of 2,130 MWh of energy for heating and cooling our company’s office space and powering our IT infrastructure. Nordnet’s energy consumption equals the average consumption of 85 Swedish households. As rising electricity prices turns energy consumption into an increasingly large cost item, the incentive to work actively to obtain energy efficiencies keeps growing.

Greenhouse gas emissions

A central part of Nordnet’s environmental impact consists of greenhouse gas emissions. We report our emissions of greenhouse gases according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), which is the most common international framework for voluntary greenhouse gas reporting. Nordnet reduced its entire greenhouse gas emissions in 2011 by 10 percent to approximately 1.1 tonnes of CO₂e per employee, which equals roughly 20 percent of the total greenhouse gases emitted by an average Swede in one year.

Nordnet’s greenhouse gas emissions mainly come from of our servers’ electricity consumption, our employee’s commutes to and from work and business trips. Our total reduction in greenhouse gas emissions mainly relates to air travel, where we managed a reduction of 31 tonnes of CO₂e, corresponding to 60 percent.

Office paper consumption

Nordnet’s paper consumption amounts to approximately 11,400 sheets per employee per year. This is a relatively high consumption, which to a great extent depends on Nordnet’s legal obligation to print and provide certain documentation to our customers. The greenhouse gas emissions from our use of office paper amounts to 2.8 tonnes CO₂e, which equals 2 percent of Nordnet’s total emissions.

To reduce our paper consumption and related administration, Nordnet will launch a new solution in 2012 that enables new customers to sign up directly on the Internet, by using BankID. The result is that modern savers can become customers without even having to sign a single physical paper.