Blog BNP Paribas | The bank for a changing world » Environment

BlogTV: Planting Seeds of Growth for Women

Isabelle Palsky — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:26:56 +0000

The Semailles association is part of the Réseau Cocagne, a network comprising more than 100 gardens throughout France.

Semailles works around 3 areas:

•   Integration through horticulture
•   Integration through floriculture
•   Environmental and Sustainable Development Education

The association, based on the same principles used for market gardening, created in 2008 “Fleurs de Cocagne”, an innovative project whose purpose is : to produce flowers that are “natural, local and cooperative”, to prepare flower bouquets and to distribute them to a network of members.

In this way, Fleurs de Cocagne supports the social and professional integration of women, who, during the length of their contract with the association, get to build a new professional future.

The Semailles association has benefited from Projet Banlieues, a program of the BNP Paribas Foundation.

Reporters for a Day with the “Tamounte Association”

Isabelle Palsky — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:01:46 +0000

Today, Si Mohamed Kaanoune, the last of our Reporters for a Day, will take you on a trip to Morocco to find out more about the Tamounte Association. This multi-purpose organization aims to support and improve, in a wide variety of ways, the southern region of the country. This support comes in many forms, from providing schooling for children and improving the basic infrastructure of the villages to fighting poverty on a daily basis.

The large-scale mission of the Tamounte Association is carried out by a team of 15 volunteers, each with a vision of a brighter future for their country!

Tamounte is supported by the BMCI Foundation.

Identifiying the Keys to a Healthy Lifestyle

Lily Dionne — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:36:28 +0000

On July 8th, BGL BNP Paribas organized the 7th annual Sport-Health-Environment Day. The theme this year: “Health and Local Products”.

Particular emphasis was placed on the idea of “Gesond iessen, méi bewegen”, or “Eating well, exercising more.” The themes of nutrition, the importance of using local products, and the practice of regular physical activity were all highlighted as elements essential to a balanced lifestyle.

The traditional run around the BGL BNP Paribas building and the sales of products throughout the day allowed the organisers to raise funds for the Association Luxembourgeoise des Groupes Sportifs pour Cardiaques (ALGSC), or the Luxembourg athletic association for people with cardiac difficulties.

This organisation, created in 1984, helps people suffering or having suffered from heart problems to engage in regular exercise. It is proven that endurance sports greatly reduce risk factors for further heart attacks, while improving life expectancy—not to mention personal confidence. The ALGSC organises group activities like biking, jogging, water gymnastics, weightlifting, and Nordic walking, and organises conferences on subjects relevant to heart heath.

Annual Race Benefits New York’s Central Park

Scott Gerace — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:36:45 +0000

More than 200 BNP Paribas US employees took part in the 34th Annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in New York City on June 17, 2010. The annual event, a 3.5-mile road race, benefited New York’s Central Park Conservancy.

Central Park, famous the world over from its presence in countless films, faced a sharp decline in the 1970s. The Conservancy was founded in 1980 by a group of civic and philanthropic leaders dedicated to restoring the space to its former splendor as envisioned by its designers in the 19th century. Today, the Conservancy’s mission is to restore, manage and enhance Central Park for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

The first JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge took place in 1977 and has always taken place in Central Park. This year’s edition drew 15,000 participants and completely sold out. As you can see, BNP Paribas was well represented, constituting one of the top five largest company teams in the race!

Recycle Your Old Tennis Balls – “Balle Jaune,” Take II!

Lily Dionne — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:17:12 +0000

There’s nothing like the smell of new tennis balls, that feeling of peeling open a fresh can. But what happens to the old ones? You toss them without thinking twice.

Until recently, that was the only thing you could do. And the waste added up: while amateurs can play with the same balls for over a year, the pros go through a new can every 7 games! An estimated 14 million balls and 4 million plastic or metal cans per year are thrown out by players in France alone.

But the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has been trying to change that with their “Balle jaune” (or yellow ball) initiative, a ball recycling program we covered on these pages last year. With the help of partner company COVED, and the financial contribution of Fed-Ex, the FFT coordinated the collection of balls, tapping their network of over a million licensed tennis players. This year, 19 of their 36 leagues took part (up from 7 leagues last year) and 600,000 used balls were collected. They were then processed for their rubber, free of charge, by a company called Recam. The rubber collected was then converted into sports surfaces. Last year, the surfaces created were donated to rehabilitation centres for physically handicapped children.

Balle jaune is not only important because of what it is able to donate at the end; it also helps in the development of environmental sensitivity among individuals. All phases of the recycling process were accompanied by information sessions for a wide public of tennis instructors, players and managers of all ages. Let’s not forget it also pushed the envelope of recycling methods for tennis balls: Recam’s process was one that had never been done before!

Balle Jaune is a part of the “Tennis and Environment” campaign, launched in 2008 by the FTT and the Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development.

Meat Free Monday: supporting local fruit farmers

Annis Hsu — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:50:15 +0000

Cardif Taiwan has launched a new project entitled “Meat Free Monday.” The program, which started March 29th and runs for three months, will help sponsor and support local fruit farmers who were affected by the Marakot typhoon in the fall of 2009.

The Marakot typhoon was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history. The natural disaster caused much damage in southern Taiwan, affecting the fruit harvests and causing serious financial loss to the locals.

With the local agricultural cooperation’s help, Cardif Taiwan supports and purchases products, which can at times be somewhat damaged, directly from these fruit farmers affected by the typhoon. Another benefit is that buying locally cuts down on the amount of contributors, in a products supply chain, who emit green house gases.

Also, for the program, staff of Cardif Taiwan, including some from the new joint venture TCB life, sign a pledge card to not eat meat on Mondays for the three month time period. In addition to sticking a personal photo on a pledge card, they also place the photo in the big photo board displayed in Cardif’s lobby area. One reason why staff does not eat meat on Mondays is to help reduce carbon emissions which are caused by the billions of farmed animals producing enormous amounts of methane.

“Impact Investing” – a responsible and effective initiative

Isabelle Palsky — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:45:23 +0000

On the occasion of the Copenhagen Summit, Cortal Consors and B* capital, subsidiaries of BNP Paribas, announced the launch of this year’s “Impact Investing” initiative.

This program, now in its fourth consecutive year, provides funding for environmental projects that offset CO2 emissions. The principle is simple: customers benefit from reduced subscription fees to a selection of funds chosen on the basis of environmental and sustainable development criteria. These subscription fees are donated in their entirety to the GoodPlanet Foundation for its CarbonAction program.

This project provides financing for fertilizing agricultural land in India by ploughing charcoal into the soil. What does this mean exactly?

This is an innovative technology for sequestering carbon and improving soil fertility by ploughing charcoal into the soil. The high carbon content of biochar (charcoal produced from biomass) means that when it is ploughed into even extremely degraded soil, it helps the soil to retain its mineral content, nutrients and water, thus becoming an ideal and sustainable living environment for the micro-organisms responsible for the increase in soil fertility.

In some parts of rural India, degradation of the soil leads to a sharp decline in agricultural productivity and thus to an increase in poverty and food insecurity for the population. It is essential to respond quickly to this situation. As a direct result of this project, which can be implemented easily in regions that are heavily affected by rural poverty, the economic and social benefits are quickly becoming apparent, above and beyond the environmental benefits.

A simple, sustainable and effective solution!

"6 Billion Others" at the OECD World Forum

Isabelle Palsky — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:40:02 +0000

The global forum of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is taking place from the 27th to the 30th of October 2009 and focuses on the theme “Statistics, knowledge, and policy: charting progress, building visions, improving life.”

International experts in areas such as environment, development, commerce, and social issues meet to debate and consider the statistics in many areas related to the quality of life (from inequality in urban development, to climate change and well being).

The forum provides a conducive platform for participants: to exchange views and share their knowledge, wisdom, and experience with the goal of adopting solutions for the future.

For this occasion, the film “6 milliard d’Autres” (6 Billion Others), supported by BNP Paribas, is being shown in the main auditorium. It can be seen by all participants and political representatives of the forum. In the exhibition hall, which hosts about 5,000 visitors per day, the public can discover various projects displayed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. They can also be interviewed by the co-director of the film. These interviews will be visible on the website: www.6billionothers.org.

The Great Mills of Pantin

Isabelle Palsky — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:33:33 +0000

The Great Mills of Pantin have stood at the gates of Paris since 1884 and are one of France’s most spectacular industrial heritage sites. After undergoing numerous transformations and reconstructions, the Mills of Pantin have been entrusted to the firm of architects Reichen et Robert on behalf of BNP Paribas Real Estate.

It is quite a challenge to convert this factory into modern offices that comply with France’s high-quality environmental standards [HQE] while preserving its historical features.

The project has received the Ile de France Silver Pyramid in the Corporate Property category, awarded by the federation of developers and builders of the Ile de France.

Naturally, the Great Mills of Pantin were therefore open to the public for the 26th occasion of the European Heritage Days, which was held on 19th and 20th September 2009.

The topic “Heritage for All”, which was chosen as the slogan for these days, echoes the basic mission of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, as it was defined when it was created precisely 50 years ago by André Malraux: “To make humanity’s most significant works accessible to the greatest possible number of people” and “to ensure that our cultural heritage has the biggest possible audience”.

More than 12 million visitors set off to discover some of the 15,772 monuments and sites that were open to the public.