The Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, has received the certificate of its Environmental Management System (EMS) in accordance with the requirements of the UNE-EN ISO 14001:2004 Standard, issued by the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification (AENOR).

After months of work, and thanks to the efforts of its team, the Biodiversity Foundation has an EMS to reduce the environmental impact of its activity, in line with the mission of contributing to the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a voluntary management model by which an entity, company or institution undertakes to respect the environment by applying a series of guidelines for the rational use of natural resources and waste reduction.

The purpose of the System is to formalise the monitoring of the impact of the FB’s actions on the environment, in order to assess the fulfilment of the objectives and lay the foundations for a process of continuous improvement.

At FB we have set goals to reduce our consumption of energy, water and paper, as well as other materials necessary in our daily work. There are also objectives set in terms of waste generation.

Annually, the level of compliance with the objectives is evaluated and those aspects that have not improved sufficiently are reinforced. In this regard, the FB regularly undergoes an internal and an external audit.

Carbon footprint

In order to actively participate in the fight against climate change, the FB has also decided to calculate the carbon footprint associated with its activity and promote projects that allow its emissions to be offset.

The carbon footprint is a measure of both direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by an activity. The unit used for the calculation of the carbon footprint is the tonne of CO2 equivalent, which includes CO2 emissions, as well as equivalent emissions of other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide.

To calculate the carbon footprint of the FB, during 2010, for example, the consumption of electricity in offices has been taken into account; fossil fuels associated with company travel and commuting (from home to the workplace and vice versa) of the workforce; paper; water; cleaning and energy products (electricity and fossil fuels) due to the activity of suppliers and the projects supported. The generation of waste and the use of computer equipment and furniture have also been quantified.

The results indicate that the carbon footprint of the FB in 2010 has exceeded 400 tons of CO2e, being 56% lower than that of 2009.

To offset carbon emissions, FB will continue to finance offset projects, certified by the “Gold Standard”. In this way, fossil fuels can be replaced by biomass or waste can be recovered and methane emissions reduced, or energy sources can be replaced by renewable energy sources (electricity or thermal).