The ‘good lessons’
Henrik Kristensen: “Environmental performance...is protecting the brand and making you an attractive employer”
APM Terminals, which is focusing strongly on emerging markets, says it is taking the “good lessons” it has learned from its environmental programme to concessions in China, India and Brazil.
That experience is even used in designing the layout of a working terminal to be as energy efficient as possible.
Taking environmental issues seriously – and demonstrating that you are doing so – will be part of doing business in the “new normal”, says Henrik Kristensen, head of CSR/HSSE at APM Terminals (APMT).
“Environmental performance is good for financial performance and for the company itself – protecting the brand and making you an attractive employer,” he says. Many people, particularly in the developed parts of the world, really aspire to work with companies that do more to tackle climate change, says Mr Kristensen. “The people we are trying to recruit for top positions within the company with the intellect we need see the environment as a huge issue.”
APMT employees were recently asked in a survey whether they felt their company was taking the environment seriously – the proportion answering ‘yes’ went up from 42% to 73% in just one year. The company used the economic crisis to accelerate its environmental performance programme and try to really engage our staff, he says. “And of course it was a smart way to get more out of the system by doing more with less and at the same time save money.”
The company achieved an 8.5% reduction in CO2 emissions in 2009, and is looking for a minimum 10% reduction this year. It had already delivered an 11.4% reduction by August, “so we would expect to meet or beat that target for this year”, says Mr Kristensen.
It has 150 different projects on environmental issues – some are just small ‘best practice’ policies, others are major strategic programmes. There’s the obvious ‘don’t forget to switch off the engine’; making the most of machinery in operation with regular maintenance, oil changes, etc. And going one step further, there’s the process of making the decision to upgrade to new, more energy-efficient machinery.
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