Environmental programme

Csongor Hajna, Environmental Management Representative and Communications Team Leader at Provident Hungary, explains why International Personal Finance's environment programme is so important to the Hungarian business. 

"Here in Hungary, the aim of our environmental programme is threefold: to manage our environmental impact, to educate our colleagues about environmental issues and to provide opportunities for our employees and agents to get actively involved in environmental projects.

"High-level management support, an active environmental working group and a reliable network of environmental activists are important factors in the success of our programmes.

"A number of volunteer projects help raise awareness. Even simple activities such as litter picking and park restoration not only bring real benefits for the local community but also provide team-building and skill development opportunities.

"The way we fund projects encourages employees to get involved and support their own local communities. Employees apply for internal grants; we then provide budget, management and communications support. So the ideas come from our grassroots but resources are managed centrally. Not all projects are approved-we have guidelines for allocating grants and aim for at least one project per region. The theme of our environment programme this year was climate change and we gave priority to projects that linked to this.

"In 2008 alone we recycled 24,000 kg of paper and around 9,000 batteries, planted 160 trees, extended the life of over 60 pieces of IT equipment, collected 120 kg of community waste and installed our first solar collector.

"The fact we were recognised by the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum's 'Business World for the Environment' awards in 2007, where we were placed third, has really helped motivate us during 2008 to do more, especially in terms of employee involvement. Our efforts have been recognised by our latest environmental audit-it showed we had met the ISO14001 standard for the third year in a row"