Friends Provident International (FPI), regarded as one of the Isle of Man's most environmentally conscious companies, has played a leading role in securing the Carbon Trust accreditation for its entire UK business operation.
A visit made by assessors to FPI in Castletown paved the way for the award for parent company Friends Provident.
Carbon Trust was set up by the UK Government in 2001 as an independent company to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy, providing specialist support for businesses and the public sector to help cut carbon emissions, save energy and commercialise low carbon technologies.
To gain accreditation, a company has to demonstrate it has made an absolute reduction in CO2 emissions for at least a three year period as determined by the international measuring standard greenhouse gas protocol.
The assessment covers electricity, gas and oil, including car emissions. A fresh appraisal is made every two years.
Sandra Latner, corporate responsibility manager at Friends Provident, said, "The Company had to fill in a survey explaining what had been done over the past few years on reducing emissions before receiving a site visit from Carbon Trust officials.
"They said 'pick your best office' so we chose the Isle of Man because of the employee environmental champions pilot scheme."
FPI has been a leading advocate of a greener workplace for several years. The Environmental Champions scheme, run in conjunction with the independent charity Global Action Plan (GAP), has been running successfully since the summer when GAP recruited and trained a dozen FPI volunteers to promote environmentally friendly initiatives in the local area.
At this launch event, held at FPI’s Royal Court headquarters, a number of environmentally conscious Isle of Man charities and small businesses came along to promote their products. The occasion was supported by Chief Minister Tony Brown and other leading Ministers and Commissioners.
John Owen, training and development manager at Friends Provident International said, "It was because we have made considerable progress with environmental issues that it was decided the Carbon Trust assessors should visit our Isle of Man operation.
"They were able to see first-hand how committed we are as a Company to becoming more environmentally sustainable.
"It's also a great credit to our staff and especially our volunteer GAP champions who have been extremely focussed on maintaining our green credentials.
"Carbon Trust accreditation is the latest stage in what we see as an important on-going process within FPI."
