The Green Business Index Gala
Green Business Index is a project of the Green Revolution Association in Romania started in 2010.
România Internațional, 27.11.2015, 13:42
Green Business Index is a project of the Green Revolution Association in Romania started in 2010, which monitors the environment protection activities and makes an annual classification of green companies. This year, 260 companies on the Romanian business market have signed up for the Green Business Index. This is the only free-of-charge instrument for assessing the environment-related performance, based on indicators inspired by international standards from 7 domains specific to environment protection: sustainable development, use of resources, impact on the environment, waste management, green buildings and spaces, green procurement and sustainable transport.
Recently the 5th edition of this prestigious competition has come to end. More than 20 companies were awarded prizes for their eco-friendly actions. Ninel Lazăr, Green Business Index project manager, has praised the progress made by these companies and recommended them to carry on with their environment protection activities.
Ninel Lazăr: “It is a joy to discover that many companies have reported substantial improvement in comparison with the previous years in terms of their specific performance. 74.2% of the companies use ecologic design instruments or elements for their products in comparison with the past years. 34% of the companies have reduced water consumption by up to 75% as against the previous year. 51.7% of the companies have reduced energy consumption in comparison with the previous year but opportunities here are huge, because only 36% of them regularly audit the use of energy. 66% of the companies do not use hazardous substances as raw materials, 40% have reduced the amount of emissions as compared to the previous year, 45% have cut down on the net amounts of pollutants exhausted into the environment by means of wastewater and 37.5% do not use final storage as a management solution for non-domestic waste.”
At this year’s edition of the Green Business Index, Pro Credit Bank got the highest rating for waste management and green procurement. Here is Gabriela Ercau, head of the green energy office for Pro Credit Bank: “We are focusing on three directions to manage environmental protection activities. The first direction is the inner system for environmental management. We monitor consumption for paper, electricity, fuel and heating with a view to optimizing them, but without affecting our work conditions. We have contracts for recycling all types of waste with expert companies for each of our locations. In addition, in the process of selecting out suppliers, we want to partner with companies that follow our principles, and which can be ISO 14001 certified. The final aim of this approach is to purchase ecological energy-efficient equipment and solutions. Here I would mention low-emission vehicles, buying recycled paper, LED lighting equipment. The second criterion is managing environmental risk in loaning. This represents a deep analysis of all economic activities that could pose a risk to the environment, as well as rejecting loans for companies that run activities that can be considered dangerous for the environment, and we have a black list for those. The third and last direction has to do with pro-ecological loans, promoting economic development at the most sustainable possible level. For SMEs and farmers, this type of financing contributes to good business performance for using modern and efficient technologies that protect the environment.”
The categories ‘Environmental Impact’ and ‘Sustainable Transportation’ were won by KPMG Romania, which won two prizes for waste management and sustainable development respectively. Geta Diaconu, head of Sustainability and Environmental Services, said that her company offers consultancy in this area, and cannot do this without sorting out its own environmental issues.
Geta Diaconu: “When you advise your clients in managing their company to be sustainable, so that it does not harm the environment, first and foremost you have to implement your own measures, in your own company. We have decided a few years ago to care for the environment and have a sustainable business, even if we work only in offices. In terms of transportation, we have decided to do something so that we don’t pollute, aiming for less emissions. To this end, we have supplied our colleagues with minibuses, because we have our offices right here, in Baneasa, we encouraged them to ride bikes, I myself am a big fan of cycling.”
DHL International has been rewarded as the best-performing green business in Romania in 2015. This year was the its fifth participation in the Gren Business Index. DHL International is an express mail service benefiting from the experience of all its branches across the world. The strategic objective of the company, also represented in Romania, is to cut down on carbon gas emissions to 30% by 2020. The company has lowered its emissions by 19.% as compared to 2014, for which they were designated the big winners of the 2015 Green Business Index.
Raluca Fiser, the head of Green Revolution, is happy with the results of this year’s competition and has invited businesses to sign up for next year’s edition as well: “There are both multinationals and SMEs with good environment performances that partly wanted to see what they were capable of in this respect, and partly wanted to see how they fare compared to other companies that are more familiar with this kind of event. And it wasn’t easy, I can tell you that. Perhaps we have oversimplified the structure and judging, but the questions and criteria are adapted to reflect international standards. Next year the new directive for non-financial reporting will come into effect, and GBI wants to help Romanian entrepreneurs improve their environment ratings. To conclude, I can say Romanian entrepreneurs have become more aware of the importance of environment ratings, which are directly linked to financial results, and we have started to see definite improvement in this respect from one year to the next”.
Green Revolution Association is the first urban ecology NGO to implement measures aimed at building a green city.
