Focusing on the environmental impact of business processes
Sustainability is a major factor in our purchasing policy, and issues such as diversity, a responsible mobility policy, and energy efficient and environmentally friendly business premises are high on our agenda. An important factor in our CSR policy is reducing our CO2 footprint, which we aim to achieve by not only reducing, but also by compensating, our carbon emissions. An example of this is our purchase of green energy. In addition, we compensate our excess CO2 emissions in the Netherlands via the 'Gold Standard', which is the quality standard with the strictest requirements for compensation processes. How does it work? Meijburg makes a financial contribution to a CO2 emission reduction project based on its CO2 emissions for the preceding year. The financial contribution consists of purchasing CO2 credits that are equal in amount to our emissions. The purchasing of these CO2 credits enables clean technology to be developed in the country where the CO2 emission reduction project is based. Which project has KPMG Meijburg & Co invested in? Meijburg has invested in a progressive project in the field of waste management. The project is located in Ankara, Turkey. The landfill located on the outskirts of Ankara was a dangerous and extremely polluted site. Large amounts of methane gas, one of the worst greenhouse gases, were released into the atmosphere. However, the landfill, which collects the refuse of millions of residents of the large urban areas surrounding Ankara, has now become an energy source, thanks to the CO2 compensatory nature of the financing. The usual practice of dumping refuse in a landfill has been replaced with the sorting thereof into metals, glass, and other recyclable materials. The organic matter (about 60% of the total) is stored in fermentation tanks and is turned into heat/electricity, and compost. The remainder - only 5% - is burnt to ashes. Everything but the ashes is reused or sold. Read more here on the Gold Standard waste recycling project in Turkey. (pdf) For a short film on the project, click here. View KPMG Meijbrug & Co's CO2 certificate here.