Recycle4Envision meet Barclays

Four Envision students visited Barclays Head Office in Canary Wharf yesterday to meet with Marcus Agius, the Group Chairman of Barclays PLC.

They were awarded the visit for the innovative work in their Recycle4envision project. This was was judged by peer review to be an outstanding project in terms of sharing information related to climate change issues at the 2009 Change-Makers conference, hosted by InterClimate Network.

The students spent 50 minutes with Marcus Agius, telling him first about their work to raise awareness of climate change issues in their school. When asked why he supported the InterClimate Network, the Chairman said, 'I absolutely believe we have to manage the planet'. Marcus is involved in the Confederation of British Industry's Committee on climate change. Since becoming Group Chairman, he has both taken a lead in Barclays to reduce the impact of the company - in procurement and carbon neutral work-places - and supported staff 'green' initiatives through the annual Chairman's Award.

One student, Anil, was keen for Barclays to make its customers more aware that it supports initiatives to reduce the impact of climate change and to make options for paperless banking clearer. They also wanted to know what the Chairman did personally, and he mentioned making sure he switched off the lights! He later acknowledged that his heavy travelling schedule with Barclays stretched both his time and his own carbon footprint.

The students really enjoyed meeting the Chairman, and liked that 'if he didn't know the answer, he said so', as well as his openness to new ideas. They agreed the visit would definitely give them something to talk about in school and in their college and university applications.