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Environment

As a responsible global company we strive to achieve our corporate objectives whilst minimising our impact upon the environment. As a leader in our industry we seek to lead by example.

Environmental Management Programme

At its most simple, we plan to implement a comprehensive Environmental Management Programme that will be based upon a system that satisfies the requirements of the voluntary ISO 14001 UK standard. This will enable us to measure and monitor our performance against objectives and ensure a continued improvement in performance. It is our goal to obtain similar certification for ISO 14001 for our major offices around the globe, beginning with our headquarters in Gibraltar in autumn 2012.

In this context we aim to prevent environmental damage, minimise energy and resource usage, support the reduction, reuse and recycling of materials and ensure the legal disposal of all waste arising from the activities of the business throughout the Group. Wherever possible, product and materials purchased will be from sustainable sources with an emphasis on using recycled materials.

  • Waste and Recycling: Our Group´s waste minimisation strategy is based on the desired hierarchy of reduce, re-use, and recycle. Our aim is to obtain the maximum benefit from all products and to generate the minimum amount of waste. Some of our procedures include, wherever practicable:
    - materials such as paper, computer equipment and printer consumables are already recycled. All waste that cannot be re-used or recycled is disposed of safely and legally. Broken electrical items and spent batteries are particularly harmful to the environment and measures are in place to ensure these items are disposed of safely. Furthermore light sources and electrical equipment which we do not use anymore are either disposed professionally or taken back by the producer. We of course separate waste in all our offices according to the national and local habits.
    - We collect mobile phones and toners and hand them over to charitable organisations.
  • Energy and water consumption: We aim to keep our energy and water consumption to a minimum. Therefore employees are called to switch off electrical systems and electronic devices when not required. We have also fitted energy efficient light sources in many of our offices and are seeking to introduce them across all of our facilities. We hope to both preserve resources and cut costs with these and other measures.
  • Purchasing: Whenever practicable we will seek to purchase products and materials from sustainable sources with an emphasis on using recycled materials. We aim to work with quality suppliers and also to encourage them to adopt a similar approach to our own regarding low impact environmental policies and principles.
  • Travel: Besides looking to reduce energy consumption in our offices, we have continued to tighten the reins on employee travel. All travel by air or rail is recorded and has to be approved by executive management. Greater use of video conferencing facilities between offices not only lessens the environmental impact caused by our business but also reduces our financial costs. Staff use public transport whenever possible.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of all levels of management to ensure that all processes and systems of work are designed in the context of our Environmental Management Programme outlined above. Management will also ensure that when obtaining services from external suppliers such as contractors, those contractors have a sound understanding of environment issues, recognising their potential for impacting the environment.
As most of our activities apply to daily activities and routines, our employees have a vital role to play in helping us to minimise our impact on the environment. With the help of different media and campaigns as well as through training we seek to raise awareness of environmental issues and our Group´s objective. We plan to make all relevant environmental statistics, like our carbon footprint or power and water consumption, available on demand. All employees are encouraged to make suggestions to improve any aspect of our environmental management system.

The local environmental procedures are formulated by the Local Environmental Manager, who is also responsible for maintaining the environmental management system. The Local Environmental Manager reports in a timely manner to Local Directors and the Group Environmental Management Advisor. The latter is responsible for our environmental management program as a whole and works closely with local directors and managers helping them to implement awareness campaigns and training.