SCOTIABANK Jamaica yesterday ramped up its ‘green’ campaign, announcing its support, to the tune of $4 million, of entities and projects involved in environmental conservation.

Among the beneficiaries, announced at the official launch of the campaign held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston yesterday is the National Solid Waste Management Authority’s Clean Schools Competition, to which the bank donated $1.8 million.

The financial institution has also added two new elements to the four-year-old competition — a $150,000 cash award for each of the winning schools to create green spaces; and a Facebook component, allowing competitors from both the primary and secondary level category to upload photographs and videos of “good, bad or ugly scenes” in their communities for judging. The first-place winner from each category will receive $70,000.

The Jamaica Environment Trust, an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO), and the National Youth Help Project of Hear the Children’s Cry are also among the beneficiaries. Each entity received $500,000 for their work in environmental awareness building and job creation through a ‘green’ initiative respectively.

The bank also launched its Scotia Eco Award, which will recognise two small Jamaican NGOs, rewarding them with $750,000 each, “upon submission of a green project proposal that can make a difference in the care and preservation of the environment”, according to Monique Todd, Scotia’s vice-president of marketing, public and corporate affairs.

As part of the $4-million spend, the bank will also provide a $500,000 prize for Best Environmental Community in the Jamaica Environmental Action Awards — the winners of which will be announced in June.

Scotia began its green campaign in May of last year “to demonstrate to all Jamaica that the care of the environment is part of our corporate social responsibility”, noted Joylene Griffiths Irving, director of public and corporate affairs.

Since then, the bank has implemented an environment paper policy, which sees employees using both sides of a sheet of paper for copying and printing; using PC projectors for presentations to eliminate handouts; reviewing and modifying documents without printing them; and, among other things, providing electronic internal phone directories instead of paper. This, while more than 90 per cent of communication to staff is sent electronically.

Externally, they have funded the University of the West Indies and the Protect the Environment Trust’s plastic bottle recycling efforts. The entity has also distributed 9,500 trees to customers for planting and has embarked on the first in a series of coastal clean-up initiatives.

Altogether, the Scotia Goes Green Campaign is costing the bank $10.6 million — a sum the bank considers well worth it.

“Scotia has gone green. We trust that all our stakeholders will feel a sense of pride at this our latest initiative and that you will all join in preserving and protecting Mother Earth,” said Todd.