Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Monday announced the launch of its environmental initiative 'PNB Palaash', an eight-month period campaign to embrace sustainability. The campaign would lead to cost savings and operational efficiencies through measures such as energy and resource conservation, paper reduction, waste management and streamlined digital processes, PNB said in a statement.

Acknowledging the need for integrating sustainability into every aspect of lives, PNB managing director Atul Kumar Goel said, ''As a leading bank in the industry, undertaking environment-friendly initiatives not only aligns with our corporate social responsibility but also presents significant opportunities for business growth.'' The primary objective of this project is to actively contribute to conservation endeavours, foster the adoption of sustainable practices, and promote active employee engagement, he said.

Under this initiative, it said, one lakh plus employees of PNB will plant minimum two saplings each. Some of the campaign themes under this project include digi branches, green data centres, electrical vehicle finance, green project finance, recycling camps, tree plantation drive, paper conservation drive, energy conservation olympiads, and paper conservation drives etc. The campaign is in line with the RBI’s vision of sustainable finance and the sixth iteration of Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE 6.0), an initiative by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), it said.