With its green logo and name predestined, Desjardins is one of the flagship of sustainable development in Quebec.
At what point has emerged concern for sustainable development at Desjardins?
It coincided with my arrival in 1988. During my first meeting, Claude Villeneuve, then delegate of the Caisse Populaire de Saint-Prime, has claimed that the Movement adopts an environmental policy. It did not yet sustainable development at that time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I spoke on several forums of Environmental Option Desjardins. Then there was a knock-on effect, but for a few years, Desjardins was the knight of environmental causes in the financial field in Quebec.
What were your first steps towards the environment?
Under Option environmental Desjardins, we created the Desjardins Environment Fund, an investment fund managed by Desjardins Trust. We invited all the major Canadian companies to register their title. For this, they must prove that they had an environmental policy. Many companies who had not met the following year with a policy rule, to register the fund. This project has had great impact on the environment and financially, because the fund had a very good performance!
Since then, how evolved your sustainable development policy?
Because we are a cooperative, two of the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely economic development and social development, are part of our culture since our origins. As for the environmental aspect, Desjardins was already aware. Raymond Blais, who was president before Desjardins Claude Beland, had created a fund of two million dollars to help Cascades to build a pulp recycled Breakeyville. In 2003, during the general assembly, delegates voted boxes to 97% for Desjardins Option transforms its environmental policy for sustainable development. Our current policy was adopted by the Council in October 2005.
What are the concrete actions that demonstrate this policy of sustainable development?
Our actions are divided into three main parts: waste management, energy efficiency and procurement officials. The Movement spends 600 million dollars a year in purchases of goods and services and 31 million dollars in energy consumption! Desjardins has created the Green Challenge in May 2006, to convince members to replace their statement of account on paper by an electronic record. The goal was the adoption of virtual 100 000 records in three years with the key for each new virtual, planting a tree, in collaboration with the Corporation Saint-Laurent, a representative of Earth Day Quebec. After six months, the goal was met! The value of this project is that it involves a member, so the citizen, and he is also carrying an educational mission.
What is your plan to reduce energy consumption Desjardins?
An energy efficiency program takes place gradually in the housing Desjardins. We aim 6% reduction of energy consumption in buildings over three years, which can be obtained easily, simply by optimizing the use of equipment. At the same time, we will improve air quality for the benefit of employees. The same folder covers both the economic, social and environmental. In analyzing our energy consumption, we made a great discovery: large companies are billed according to the tariff of 15 minutes more demand for energy. If we can manage those 15 minutes, we will reduce much of the energy bill, but that most companies do not know. We are working on the famous concept of "Negawatt", ie the unspent megawatt, which is less expensive to produce than save.
What are you doing to reduce production of greenhouse gases Desjardins?
We want to improve our transport management, including installing video systems in the premises of the Federation, in major centers and region. We have the shuttle Desjardins carrying employees daily between Lévis and Montreal. In addition, Desjardins has pledged to hold annual general meetings "zero carbon". To offset the CO2 emissions caused by the movement of participants, estimated at 124 tonnes, 500 trees were planted. In 2006, it won the "zero carbon". In 2007, is the "zero carbon zero waste".
In terms of purchasing managers, what are you doing?
We ask our suppliers to minimize packaging. We ask conditions at the time of renewal of contracts. We inform our supplier of our requirements and we will call for tenders. For example, when renewal of our partnership with Bell, we agreed to retrieve cell phones staff and our customers. Any contract that is signed with Desjardins must now integrate our sustainable development policy. Our responsible purchasing policy involves the training of buyers, the development of a simple grid analysis companies who send their services and putting up a website to keep informed of our suppliers and our criteria our guidelines.
How do you integrate your sustainable development policies to the overall strategy of your company?
The strategy Desjardins has always been based on the long term this is a huge advantage over our competitors, which are subject to the tyranny of the quarter and achieving profitability levels needed to meet the shareholder. Desjardins spoke of present, future, sustainability ... Combining the economic and social issues, it is 100 years we did it!
Desjardins, several autonomous entities, 40 600 employees and an army of suppliers. It is well to convince the world to adopt the policy of sustainable development. What is your strategy?
We mobilize and sensitize our employees. We enter into partnerships with members and with major companies in Quebec who are our service providers. We must first inform the challenges of sustainable development, and encourage them to review their choice of consumer behavior and their modes of production. Of course, the adoption of sustainable development policy by credit unions is a voluntary way. We stress that this is a political movement which was adopted at a general meeting with a high rate of accession, but we respect the pace of boxes. No coercion. One factor for success is the commitment of senior management in the company. Everything is done with the assistance of management teams. We start with the Federation and subsidiaries, and crates. Our strategy is very structured. The Federation developed the program and the tools we then inform the coffers of results, and we urge them to implement the policy.
To meet the goals of sustainable development, your requirements must sometimes be binding for your members or your employees. How do they react?
At first, they are sometimes surprised to our criteria, but they adhere quickly. We must accustom people to think in terms of the three poles of sustainable development. The dominant has always been the economy, the social component, was naturally Desjardins, but we must get people to integrate the environment. It is a requirement for more. In the daily decisions at each stage we go through the grid of sustainable development. We must broaden our evaluation criteria in relation to environmental policy. Our goal is to promote support, to ensure that everyone feels involved in all sectors of the Movement. People need to take over the case and they wear it.
At what point has emerged concern for sustainable development at Desjardins?
It coincided with my arrival in 1988. During my first meeting, Claude Villeneuve, then delegate of the Caisse Populaire de Saint-Prime, has claimed that the Movement adopts an environmental policy. It did not yet sustainable development at that time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I spoke on several forums of Environmental Option Desjardins. Then there was a knock-on effect, but for a few years, Desjardins was the knight of environmental causes in the financial field in Quebec.
What were your first steps towards the environment?
Under Option environmental Desjardins, we created the Desjardins Environment Fund, an investment fund managed by Desjardins Trust. We invited all the major Canadian companies to register their title. For this, they must prove that they had an environmental policy. Many companies who had not met the following year with a policy rule, to register the fund. This project has had great impact on the environment and financially, because the fund had a very good performance!
Since then, how evolved your sustainable development policy?
Because we are a cooperative, two of the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely economic development and social development, are part of our culture since our origins. As for the environmental aspect, Desjardins was already aware. Raymond Blais, who was president before Desjardins Claude Beland, had created a fund of two million dollars to help Cascades to build a pulp recycled Breakeyville. In 2003, during the general assembly, delegates voted boxes to 97% for Desjardins Option transforms its environmental policy for sustainable development. Our current policy was adopted by the Council in October 2005.
What are the concrete actions that demonstrate this policy of sustainable development?
Our actions are divided into three main parts: waste management, energy efficiency and procurement officials. The Movement spends 600 million dollars a year in purchases of goods and services and 31 million dollars in energy consumption! Desjardins has created the Green Challenge in May 2006, to convince members to replace their statement of account on paper by an electronic record. The goal was the adoption of virtual 100 000 records in three years with the key for each new virtual, planting a tree, in collaboration with the Corporation Saint-Laurent, a representative of Earth Day Quebec. After six months, the goal was met! The value of this project is that it involves a member, so the citizen, and he is also carrying an educational mission.
What is your plan to reduce energy consumption Desjardins?
An energy efficiency program takes place gradually in the housing Desjardins. We aim 6% reduction of energy consumption in buildings over three years, which can be obtained easily, simply by optimizing the use of equipment. At the same time, we will improve air quality for the benefit of employees. The same folder covers both the economic, social and environmental. In analyzing our energy consumption, we made a great discovery: large companies are billed according to the tariff of 15 minutes more demand for energy. If we can manage those 15 minutes, we will reduce much of the energy bill, but that most companies do not know. We are working on the famous concept of "Negawatt", ie the unspent megawatt, which is less expensive to produce than save.
What are you doing to reduce production of greenhouse gases Desjardins?
We want to improve our transport management, including installing video systems in the premises of the Federation, in major centers and region. We have the shuttle Desjardins carrying employees daily between Lévis and Montreal. In addition, Desjardins has pledged to hold annual general meetings "zero carbon". To offset the CO2 emissions caused by the movement of participants, estimated at 124 tonnes, 500 trees were planted. In 2006, it won the "zero carbon". In 2007, is the "zero carbon zero waste".
In terms of purchasing managers, what are you doing?
We ask our suppliers to minimize packaging. We ask conditions at the time of renewal of contracts. We inform our supplier of our requirements and we will call for tenders. For example, when renewal of our partnership with Bell, we agreed to retrieve cell phones staff and our customers. Any contract that is signed with Desjardins must now integrate our sustainable development policy. Our responsible purchasing policy involves the training of buyers, the development of a simple grid analysis companies who send their services and putting up a website to keep informed of our suppliers and our criteria our guidelines.
How do you integrate your sustainable development policies to the overall strategy of your company?
The strategy Desjardins has always been based on the long term this is a huge advantage over our competitors, which are subject to the tyranny of the quarter and achieving profitability levels needed to meet the shareholder. Desjardins spoke of present, future, sustainability ... Combining the economic and social issues, it is 100 years we did it!
Desjardins, several autonomous entities, 40 600 employees and an army of suppliers. It is well to convince the world to adopt the policy of sustainable development. What is your strategy?
We mobilize and sensitize our employees. We enter into partnerships with members and with major companies in Quebec who are our service providers. We must first inform the challenges of sustainable development, and encourage them to review their choice of consumer behavior and their modes of production. Of course, the adoption of sustainable development policy by credit unions is a voluntary way. We stress that this is a political movement which was adopted at a general meeting with a high rate of accession, but we respect the pace of boxes. No coercion. One factor for success is the commitment of senior management in the company. Everything is done with the assistance of management teams. We start with the Federation and subsidiaries, and crates. Our strategy is very structured. The Federation developed the program and the tools we then inform the coffers of results, and we urge them to implement the policy.
To meet the goals of sustainable development, your requirements must sometimes be binding for your members or your employees. How do they react?
At first, they are sometimes surprised to our criteria, but they adhere quickly. We must accustom people to think in terms of the three poles of sustainable development. The dominant has always been the economy, the social component, was naturally Desjardins, but we must get people to integrate the environment. It is a requirement for more. In the daily decisions at each stage we go through the grid of sustainable development. We must broaden our evaluation criteria in relation to environmental policy. Our goal is to promote support, to ensure that everyone feels involved in all sectors of the Movement. People need to take over the case and they wear it.
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