It seems that everyone is obsessed with their ‘carbon footprint’.

Even my cousin, whose regular Christmas circular letters have delighted the wider family with the minutiae of domestic life for many years now, this year declared that she wishes to reduce her carbon footprint and encourages us to supply our email addresses in time for next year’s edition.

Since Kyoto in December 1997, governments, corporate bodies and individuals have been increasingly focused on how to reduce their contribution to global warning. Financial services companies are no exception with environmental responsibility now a key plank of their general corporate responsibility charm offensive.

Financial services groups are keen to promote themselves as trustworthy and caring and no better way to do this is to demonstrate corporate responsibility by being a good employer, supporting community projects and educational projects, espousing equal opportunities, and now reducing their impact on the environment.

This can take a number of different forms: reducing water consumption, reducing the amount of waste produced, increasing the percentage of waste that is recycled, and, most significant of all, reducing the carbon footprint. And companies are keen to exploit the good PR to be gained from publishing their green targets and achievements.

A number of companies, for example The CarbonNeutral Company, now exist to help organisations develop their environmental strategies and validate their efforts.

Reducing the carbon footprint typically consists of first measuring the amount of CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) produced. Secondly, CO2 emissions are reduced as much as possible by using less energy and improving efficiency. Thirdly, what CO2 emissions remain are neutralised in some way, typically by offsetting, the practice of investing in projects that negate the effects of the carbon footprint, such as tree planting.

Some financial services companies have already achieved carbon neutral status; AVIVA, Barclays, HBOS, HSBC and Royal & SunAlliance offset 100% of their carbon footprint in the UK and AVIVA and HSBC do so worldwide.

Additionally, some providers now offer personal lines that enable policy holders to offset some of their personal carbon footprint, for example, ibuyeco, Co-Op and MoreThan have car insurance products that offset the carbon footprint of the insured vehicle.

Every little helps. Although by sending her circular letter by email, my cousin will do little to offset the CO2 produced by flying to her four different holiday destinations detailed in this year’s missive.