ING takes carbon-neutral path

ING Investment Management Americas will purchase wind energy credits for its domestic operations equal to all of its electricity needs in the hopes of becoming carbon neutral by the end of the year. The idea behind the payment is to offset the effects of its greenhouse gas emissions, so that ING's activities no longer contribute to global warming. In January, parent company ING Groep NV of Amsterdam, Netherlands, said that it intends to become carbon neutral by yearend through the reduction and compensation of all its global carbon emissions from energy use and travel. As part of that effort, the Dutch company plans to boost energy efficiency by expanding the purchase of clean energy and by offsetting its carbon dioxide emissions through reforestation projects. ING Investment Management Americas said that it already offsets all its global business travel by supporting the planting and rehabilitation of about 741 acres of degraded tropical rain forest in Malaysia. The Atlanta-based business said it aims to become a member of the Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored Green Power Partnership's 100% Club. The club consists of companies that use only green energy — that is, energy from non-polluting and renewable sources — for all of their U.S. operations. The company said that it will purchase 70 million kilowatt-hours of clean wind energy from Community Energy Inc., a Radnor, Pa.-based wind energy marketer and developer. “We see that this decision helps [us] as an environmentally friendly company,” said Catherine Smith, chief executive at ING's U.S. insurance group in Hartford, Conn. “We feel that being a green company will also be cost beneficial for us as well.” Other environmental initiatives that ING has undertaken in the United States are moving to a “green” building in Windsor, Conn., launching an employee-based effort to focus on recycling, and subsidizing mass transit for its employees. “I feel that if you run these programs well, it will save a lot of money for shareholders down the road,” Ms. Smith added.