We want our offices to be great places for our people — and for the environment
One way we bring our purpose to life – to build a global network that conducts excellent research to help health systems achieve optimal outcomes for children – is by integrating environmental considerations into our research and operations.
As an international network, people are at the heart of everything we do. As such, face-to-face meetings are essential for us, and travelling has always been a distinctive feature of our approach. While it provides numerous advantages in terms of delivering global impact, such as facilitating research, exchange of ideas and improving partnerships, it also contributes to our annual carbon footprint. We are mindful of the fragility of the environment in which we live. For this reason, we have introduced a Travel Policy aimed at promoting essential, sustainable and responsible travel.
Here is what we recommend our employees and collaborators to do:
- Use virtual collaboration tools to replace travel, where it makes business sense
- Travel only when it is necessary for business purposes
- Keep intercontinental flights to a minimum
- Combine multiple trips into one. Fewer travels equal less carbon emissions and increased productivity
- Avoid private car transportation for business travel, whenever possible
- Consider greener transportation alternatives, such as trains or hybrid, electric and low carbon vehicles.
With the introduction of hybrid working as a permanent work mode for all Penta Foundation staff beyond the COVID-19 emergency, we saw a considerable decrease in the impact of employee commuting on our carbon footprint, which sat at 18,005 kg of CO2 emissions in 2022 compared to 45,012 kg if they were to commute every day.
Additionally, we made a deliberate effort to choose training courses that could be completed online by our staff, therefore minimising the environmental impact of travel and promoting a better work-life balance for our employees.
To minimise our waste footprint, we are reducing single-use plastic in our offices and expanding our recycling programmes. We have dramatically reduced the amount of printed paper in our offices and have gone completely digital with our corporate communication and dissemination activities.
We are also engaging our suppliers to help reduce their footprint. We have made this a core topic in conversations with our collaborators and vendors, and we are continuing to work with them to strengthen our environmental performance.
We are working to weave this mindset into all areas of our action — from the Foundation’s operations to our studies implementation — to achieve our goals while also creating long-term value for all our stakeholders.
