TRADEX environmental approach is inspired by our sense of responsibility, our awareness that our activities have an impact on the environment and the knowledge that we have an obligation to reduce that impact as much as possible.
In our business operations we have set strict targets for reducing the Group’s carbon footprint per employee. TRADEX headquarters in Hong Kong was conditioned to minimize the building’s environmental impact.
In 2007 we began calculating the Group’s CO2 emissions in response to a newly defined environmental strategy. We also set ourselves an ambitious target: to reduce the average carbon footprint per employee by 40% by 2020.
Business trips and energy consumption account for more than 90% of the Group’s emissions.
| 2012 | 16,182 hours |
| 2013 | 24,167 hours |
| 2014 | 29,365 hours |
| 2015 | 41,111 hours |
| 2016 | 52,255 hours |
It is now ten years since we started making a concerted effort to achieve our CO2 objectives, and the results have been positive so far. Now it’s time to think about what happens after 2020 and to expand our spheres of action.
From now on we need to consider our consumption of material and resources and reduce this significantly. With this in mind, we are seeking to develop new measures to be implemented at all Group entities in Hong Kong and abroad.
Raising employees’ awareness of environmental issues and of the measures implemented by TRADEX has long been part of our strategy.
The success of this approach is, however, largely dependent on each individual playing their part. We therefore wish to involve every employee even more from now on and encourage them to participate as fully as possible in our campaign.
In 2017, for the second year running, TRADEX held a “Sustainability Week” for staff at all our offices. The aim was to draw employees’ attention to their consumption habits while at the same time reminding them of TRADEX’ stance on environmental, social and governance issues.
The event brought together several hundred staff members around the world to take part in activities aimed at protecting the environment.
Our plan is to boost the involvement of our foreign branches, analyze our general consumption and involve each of our employees more than before.
The initial findings of this assessment are that we should begin by targeting our branches in Asia and Europe, where there is considerable potential for improvement.
We will need to identify, measure and analyze exactly where we should take action, set ourselves further objectives and launch new projects.
There are also still very few measures being developed in the area of transport, and we need to look at what can be done there. A formal working group consisting of 11 people from the whole Group has also been set up so that we can push ahead with our environmental approach at our branches abroad.
Our carbon footprint is part of a more general issue, that of our general consumption, which needs to become more sustainable.
To achieve this, we will have to study the Group’s entire consumption chain, from our suppliers and their working practices through to the sorting and recycling of all material used, especially our IT equipment.
This work, which covers a wide spectrum, has just begun and will require a lengthy preparatory phase of analysis and data collection, thereby allowing us to set ambitious yet realistic targets and then launch new initiatives aimed at protecting our environment.