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Oracle receives ISO 14001 Certification in 14 countries across Europe and Africa
December 2007 by Marc Jacob
Oracle Corporation announced that it has been awarded the international ISO 14001 environmental certification in 14 countries across Europe and Africa. Oracle now holds the prestigious standard in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The ISO 14001 standard, created by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), specifies a set of requirements for the creation and implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS), which helps organisations to minimise any negative impact their operations have on the environment. Under the requirements of ISO 14001, Oracle will be setting performance targets to deliver environmental best practice, and to extend certification efforts across other countries in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region.
ISO 14001 accreditation initiatives form part of the overall Oracle environmental management system spanning five key areas of environmental awareness - water, energy, transport, waste and procurement. - and many countries have adopted various solutions to achieve their overall goals.
In water conservation, for example, Oracle is committed to reducing its use of water resources via innovative solutions such as waterless car valeting which has resulted in 37,400 litres of water being saved in the UK (to May 2007), and through the use of infra-red taps in many locations. In energy, many Oracle facilities use hydro-electric schemes, including Italy which is 100% hydro-electric in its two main offices.
Additionally, there is extensive use of automatic light sensors at many locations.
In transport, Oracle has many reduction schemes such as long-standing, well-adopted car sharing schemes; incentives to employees who select hybrid vehicles; active adoption of homeworking; monitoring of food supply miles by the catering teams; video-conferencing to reduce air miles; and an Orabike scheme in the UK whereby employees can use bicycles supplied by the company to make their daily journeys.
In the area of waste management and reduction, Oracle has waste segregation programs; procurement policies ensuring purchase of recycled products ranging from paper to office chairs; recycling of toner, ink and mobile phones, and company cleaners who use no chemicals and produce no waste onsite. This bio-friendly environment benefits employees, as does a "Bio-office" program in Norway whereby air quality is improved in work areas via extensive use of plants. Environmental awareness also extends to Oracle’s supply chain with a requirement for prospective suppliers to provide their environmental credentials.
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