Environment

Helping directly and indirectly to protect the environment is another important aspect of corporate citizenship. Eagle Star is working to improve our capability to contribute in this area in balance with long-term business development. We remain constant in our goal of finding ways to integrate environmental awareness where possible.

Eagle Star is committed to limiting the negative impact on the environment through recycling and waste management. To date we have made progress in the area of energy conservation through the use of recycling cabinets, the recycling of old mobile phones and ink jet cartridges and participation in the ESB Winter Demand Reduction Scheme.

Recycling of Paper

To play our part in recycling paper we use, secure recycling bins have been placed strategically on all floors in order to ensure that 100% of our waste paper is recycled. To facilitate employee's participation, the Office Facilities area provides recycling trays to keep on individual desks. Eagle Star Life believes it is important to recycle so as to reduce the demands on landfill capacity. It is a fact that the production of recycled paper means 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution and energy saving of 64% when paper is recycled. Even more importantly, it creates a feeling of goodwill among our employees who know they are working for a company who is helping to create a sustainable environment. The recycling bins are serviced by an external recycling company and are emptied on a weekly basis. The contents of the bins are removed from the building for confidential shredding and recycling. The recycling company forms the recycled paper into bales, which are then shipped to Rotterdam.

For a 6-month period to end 31st October 2002, Eagle Star Life recycled 26,235kg of paper, which is equal to 393.5 trees.

E-business and the Environment

Financial service companies, as part of their normal business practice use vast quantities of paper. As a good corporate citizen, Eagle Star is endeavouring to reduce our paper usage for the future and thereby make a positive contribution to protecting the environment.

As market leaders in electronic business to business communication, Eagle Star issues the majority of communications online to our key distribution channel. Eagle Star recognises the tailored service enhancements that can be delivered online and we believe that by encouraging the use of electronic communications, we and our business partners will save on transport and postage costs and most importantly paper usage.

The number of intermediaries using our online Broker Centre, a secure extranet, is growing and usage has trebled in the last year.

12,000 online page requests are received per week.

The Central Bank requires intermediaries to hold product literature for each product they sell. Eagle Star provide this literature on disk so the intermediaries does not have to store large amounts of paper documents.

As part of our online service, we also give individual customers access to their policy details online through the Eagle Star Client Centre and so far 2,000 new customers have already applied for this new online facility. For pension and investment customers this means they can look up the funds they have invested in and view live policy values. This is particularly useful for members of group pension schemes. We issue a weekly market comment electronically and asset splits are updated on a monthly basis to the website rather than issuing in paper copy format.

Eagle Star also provides online access to policy information for group scheme owners, trustees and members. This saves the group scheme employer a lot of paper work because scheme members can look up their own policy details and fund values and members can also access relevant scheme documentation online.

In time, we plan to put most of our administration forms online, e.g. Trust Forms, Company and Partnership agreements etc. Also, Eagle Star's new Doctor Centre, to be launched this year, will give doctors the facility to complete required medical evidence and reports online, saving on time and paper.

We also have a state of the art employee intranet called ESI-Net. This provides a huge reduction in paper usage across the organisation, as timely and relevant communications are made available to all staff electronically.

Eagle Star has published this report, the first of its kind in Ireland, online at www.eaglestarlife.ie.

Recycling Mobile Phones

Eagle Star has encouraged staff to recycle old, broken, redundant or discarded mobile phones which has helped children in Eastern Europe through a project initiated by the charity, Samaritan's Purse. Employees were notified of the initiative via our employee intranet and a box was placed in a central location on the ground floor for staff to leave their old mobile phones, which made it more convenient for employees to participate.

70 mobile phones have been collected so far in Eagle Star and the total amount raised for the Outreach Programme in Ukraine for street children was over €1,000.

Waste Management Procedures

Waste management procedures are in place and Eagle Star only uses reputable private contractors to dispose of waste. The selection criteria for our private contractors are as follows:

• Confidentiality and the provision of a secure destroy facility
  
• A proven track record
• Regular and reliable collection
• Provision of bins that are clean and presentable.

Efficiency in Energy Use

Eagle Star also endeavours to conserve energy through the use of the ESB Winter Demand Reduction Scheme, which offers customers on maximum demand tariffs, a substantial incentive to reduce their demand for electricity for specific hours during the winter months.

As participants of this scheme we encourage all staff to turn off their PCs before leaving the office in the evening. The company's electrical equipment (heating, lighting and air conditioning) function on timers, so that energy is used as efficiently as possible and metered out in line with adjustments in climate or the demands of the business.
Any reduction in the heavy usage winter peak period, helps the ESB to generate more efficiently. Although Eagle Star participate in this scheme, due to the nature of our business we cannot use it to its maximum capacity and therefore do not see a cost benefit.

Our water usage is general domestic usage and we are charged every quarter based on estimated usage. All company cars are serviced regularly in accordance with manufacturers recommendations and all cars are NCT tested which ensures CO2 emissions are kept to a minimum. For the period January 2002 to January 2003 Eagle Star's energy consumption was 20,932 Kilowatts.

Who Benefits?

Society's environmental concerns are no longer limited to companies dealing with hazardous waste. The public now demands environmentally sound practices irrespective of the type of organisation. In fact 56% of all adults surveyed in the Business in the Community, Ireland first ever survey of consumer attitudes in Ireland, believe it is important for companies to ensure it's products and operations do not harm the environment and there is a clear business case for Irish companies who do take their responsibilities seriously to communicate this commitment.

There are potential competitive impacts to be gained through proper and effective environmental practices in the workplace. Not only are Eagle Star making cost effective efficiency gains but we are responding to our customers' expectations for high standards in business practice beyond product and service development. Because all business, including financials have an impact on the environment, every business that acts, even in a small way, to reduce the negative impact can gain a competitive advantage.

Recycling Inkjet Cartridges

Eagle Star recycles on average 25 - 30 print cartridges per month which account for 100% of all the cartridges used internally. This is a recent initiative, begun within the last twelve months. For the first ten months all recycled cartridges went to a company who recycled and donated money towards two charities with only a small percentage of the money raised going direct to charity. We have since reviewed this and now deal with a private individual who collects and sells the cartridges to a recycling company - Ergo Services. 85% of the money from this sale is donated to Crumlin Hospital and Temple Street Hospital. Since October 2002, €250 has been raised and donated to charity from the sale of inkjet cartridges from Eagle Star. We have requested that we receive quarterly updates in the future on the amount of cartridges recycled and the money raised for charity.
Ergo Services clean and refill the inkjet cartridges and sell them at a lower price than the branded cartridges. Eagle Star purchase these and therefore use generic recycled cartridges in all printers using black ink and fax machines throughout the company.
In this instance, the charity benefits through financial assistance and Eagle Star are not only assisting a good cause but are helping the environment in the process.

Environment Summary

Eagle Star is managing well, areas where it has a direct impact on the environment like energy management, waste management and paper use. Our targets in the area of environmental practice in particular with regard to e-business are:

• Build on our e-business initiatives by putting in place measurements to demonstrate that e-business reduces paper usage and helps the environment and to further reduce the volume of paper wastage within the company.
• To further motivate employees to become more environmentally aware as part of their normal working practice.
• Produce a written environmental policy.
• Communicate policy throughout the organisation.