On Saturday 25 March all of Center-invest Bank’s offices switched off their lights from 20:30 to 21:30 in support of World Hour. This is an international event organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to draw attention to climate change.

For Center-invest Bank environmental and social responsibility is just as much a priority as traditional banking products and services. Even as the bank’s operations continue to grow, it still manages to keep reducing its energy consumption.

Having offered energy efficiency loan products since 2005, Center-invest Bank contributes year after year to environmental protection in southern Russia. To date, it has invested more than RUB14bn in 20,000 customer projects.

Every year the bank’s employees help at tree planting events, take part in organised bike rides, and cycle to work.

The energy efficiency projects financed by the bank have reduced annual CO2 emissions by 169,000 tonnes a year. This is equivalent to the emissions from 99,000 light vehicles or 481,600 barrels of oil. And we are proud to have saved 6.7m trees.