Who would mention the environment twice in two sentences as well as hippy-trippy notions about consciousness and going off on a communal "journey"?

An environmental campaigner such as David Bellamy? Green Party leader Trevor Sargent trying to rally the cause after a disappointing election?

Nope. It was none other than Donal Forde, managing director of AIB.

And he is apparently putting his money where his mouth is. The nation may not have "gone green" in last week's poll but banks certainly are as the battle for customers' hearts and wallets took an unexpected twist.

AIB has launched a series of initiatives . . . dubbed Green Line - that promise cash rewards to customers who help the environment starting from 2 July.

Customers get up to 2,000 when they draw down a mortgage or personal loan to install approved renewable home energy systems.

(That's not a bad deal as AIB's mortgage rates are already among the cheapest) They will also be rewarded with 600 in cash if they take out a car loan to buy an approved hybrid or flexi fuel car.

The bank also pledges to make a contribution to a new Green Fund for every customer that opts to receive bank statements by email instead of "snail mail" The money in this fund will be divided between one international and one national environmental project, details of which will be announced shortly.

"Our customers are becoming more and more aware of how their actions affect their environment, " Forde added.

He's not the only hard-nosed finance expert to join the tree-huggers. The country's best known financial adviser Eddie Hobbs is devoting the next issue of his new magazine You and Your Money to environmental issues.

He says energy-saving and other environmental concerns will become huge financial issues as oil runs out and waste disposal costs rise. In the cover story, he flags oil and energy stocks as strong buys and relates how he saves energy and composts and recycles waste at home. He's even planning to install his own wind generator.

"I didn't come at it from a 'save the whale' point of view. I came at it from a money angle after looking into global energy issues. I read reams of books and printouts and I was wide awake for two nights in a row at the back end of last year thinking: Jesus this is what we're facing into, " he tells the 19 June issue of the magazine.