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Environment > Ethical & Sustainable Banking  

Environment

The Students' Union is committed to protecting the environment and is involved a variety of projects and activities to raise awareness about environmental issues and support sustainable initiatives.

For the last to years we have been awarded a Gold ‘Green Impact’ NUS award for our efforts to reduce our ecological impact.

We have an elected part-time Environmental & Ethical Officer, supported by the full time Operations Officer. The role of the Ethical & Environmental Officer is to liase between students, societies, the Union and the University on all things ethical and environmental, and to push forward new policies and ideas for sustainability. We also have four Ethical & Environmental Reps

Contents

► Ethical & Sustainable Banking

When deciding which bank to open an account with, you might want to think about the ethical and environmental impacts of where you’re investing your money. Banking with a more ethical institution is a simple way you can make a big impact in tackling environmental and social problems world-wide.

Financial institutions often make all sorts of offers to get students through their doors, from discounts to vouchers and freebies. But these short-term gestures can often mask serious long-term issues when it comes to social and environmental impacts. Many high street banks invest in highly destructive industries such as fossil fuel extraction and arms manufacturing.

Fortunately though, there are some more ethical and sustainable options which you can choose to make sure your money is invested much more wisely. EIRIS, an independent, not-for-profit organization has put together a thoroughly researched guide to ethical student finance, available online to help you make your decision: www.yourethicalmoney.org/student-finance.

For current accounts and student accounts, the Co-operative Bank and their online branch, Smile Bank, are ranked very highly by EIRIS. For savings accounts, the Ecology Building Society and Triodos bank are both excellent options to make sure that any savings you may want to stash away are being put to good use.

Move Your Money logo

NUS and the Move Your Money campaign have put together a guide for students to help you move your money [pdf].