Have you ever stopped in the midst of your hectic schedule to think how mankind has impacted the environment? If you have not, it is time that you accept your responsibility towards the environment with a bit more seriousness. If you have, you would be aware that internet and online banking is helping in many ways in creating an eco-friendly system. When you bank online or transact financially using the net, for example using the digital method of payment for your mobile recharge or payments of utility bills, you are helping in small little ways in creating a better environment around.
- One the best contribution to creating an eco-friendly system is to reduce the use of vehicles. Passenger vehicles are the largest contribution to air pollution because of the emission of toxic gases like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the air. With more and more use of the online method of banking and payments, the usage of vehicles to drive down to the branch has reduced considerably. This is turn will gradually help reduce the harmful emissions and thereby help in creating smaller carbon footprint.
- Operational expenses in running full-fledged offices and customer support centres require sufficient energy and power to operate their systems and processes. Similarly offline retailers require spending a lot on energy related costs to keep their shops running. With online banking and payments for routine activities like mobile recharge, service providers no longer need to maintain and operate offices and centres for longer hours therefore helping conserve energy. There also been cases of reducing the number of physical customer support centres in lieu of online 24×7 support services.
- Online banking and payments has certainly helped reduce the use of paper that was earlier used for printing cheque books, withdrawal and deposit slips as also other paperwork and documents related to loans, credits, etc. Since all these processes and task can be accomplished electronically, in the long run, it will help in addressing the issue of rampant cutting of trees for paper and other related requirements.
In a study conducted on US consumers (Javelin Strategy & Research Report) a decade back it was shown that with the growing use of digital methods of payment and online banking in the country, the approximate yearly contributions would be –
- Saving about 16.5 million trees
- Reduction in fuel consumption of up to about 26 million BTU (British thermal unit).
- Decrease by 3.9 million pounds of greenhouse gases emission
- About 13 billion gallons of less toxicity in waste water
- Lessening of solid waste
- Removal of about 12.6 million nitrogen dioxide and 8.5 million particulates from the air.
The overall concept is that it helps establishing a greener work system that is safe as well as practical. As responsible citizens of the world, we need to rise to the hour and put in our best efforts to ensure that the environment does not suffer further degradation in the best interest of future generations to come.