Since consumers are becoming more demanding that companies raise their environmental and ethical awareness, the banks have jumped on the bandwagon. British banks are doing incredibly well in the Covalence ethical ranking, with HSBC coming out on top. Most of their efforts are on recycling, being carbon neutral, and contributing to projects that reduce carbon emissions. On the other hand they are not too picky as to who they finance... so it will be interesting to see if the next step in the eco reputation competition between banks will actually entail screening customers for their environmental or ethical behaviour, and applying credit rates accordingly. Article on the subject in the Guardian.
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