Partners of the “Princess Elisabeth” Station in Antarctica:
Review of a commitment of the greatest importance
Belgian station “Princes Elisabeth”, located in Antarctica, the first and only polar base operating entirely on renewable energies, will open its doors in February 2009. Launched and constructed by the International Polar Foundation, this ambitious project is aimed to promote and develop research on climate change. Convinced that answering to world concerns in matter of sustainable development and wanting to contribute to the struggle against global warming, Dexia has decided to support this world-scale project.
SUMMARY
1. Princess Elisabeth, the first “zero emission” station in Antarctica
2. “Nothing sounds impossible to me”: Interview with Alain Hubert, initiator and director of the project
3. Dexia and the International Polar Foundation: a partnership in line with Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility’s strategy of the Group
4. Two projects to involve all Dexia’s employees in the Group’s Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility strategy
1. Princess Elisabeth, the first “zero emission” station in Antarctica
The “Princess Elisabeth” station in Utsteinen on Antarctica, is a unique technical success story in its kind. This station was built on the occasion of the International Polar Year 2007-2008, and is the only polar base in the world that operates entirely on renewable energy.
With its optimized management of wind and solar energy, use of environmentally friendly materials, waste and waste water management etc., this unique assembly of ecologically sound techniques has a twofold aim: reducing to a maximum extent the immediate ecological footprint of the base and setting an example in the field of ecological habitat.
|
|
Léonie Osterrieth supports the first Belgian expedition to the Antarctic
Belgium in the Antarctic? It’s nothing new! From 1897 to 1899, the Belgica expedition, led by the Belgian Adrien de Gerlache, went to the Antarctic with an essentially scientific objective. Travelling in a ship of the same name, the expedition benefited from the generous support of Léonie Osterrieth from Antwerp, whom Gerlache also nicknamed the “mother of the expedition”, and who will always be remembered for sending Christmas presents to the team at the South Pole.
An amusing coincidence, the “Maison Osterrieth” in Antwerp is a building of historic importance which is now maintained by Dexia after its acquisition and restoration. Today this marvel of 18th century architecture houses a part of the Dexia art collection and from time to time it is the setting for various cultural events. Under the eye of its former owner, a generous patron, it was already a meeting place for many people from the world of the arts, among them Gounod, Massenet and Saint-Saëns.
|
|
The project was launched by
the International Polar Foundation and was the initiative of explorer and entrepreneur Alain Hubert.
Once it will have been built, it will be operated by the Belgian federal public service for sciences, Belspo.
110 years after the Belgica expedition, this is of course an exceptional opportunity for Belgium to return to the sixth continent.
However, this initiative is first and foremost a project on an international scale. Scientific teams from all over the world will be able to conduct research into global warming. Especially Antarctica’s key role in the evolution of climate is a subject that goes beyond all frontiers.
An other fundamental mission of the station is to enhance the visibility and the understanding of polar research through an educational programme that will constantly follow up on the research done there.
Top
2. Alain Hubert: “Nothing sounds impossible to me”
Alain Hubert, a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, co-founder of the International Polar Foundation is known chiefly as an explorer of the Polar Regions.After many expeditions on the enormous continent of Antarctica and ten years after having devoted an exhibition to it (“The Last Continent”) at the Jubilee Park (Musée du Cinquantenaire) in Brussels, this entrepreneur, as he likes to call himself, did what many considered impossible.
Where did the idea come from of building a station in Antarctica?
“From a great desire to popularise research. That is why, for example, we mounted an exhibition on Antarctica on the occasion of the beginning of this fourth International Polar Year. Just imagine, this has taken place only once in 50 years!”
To carry out your enterprise successfully, you say you count a lot on the private sector. Why is Dexia an essential partner of the “Princess Elisabeth” Station?
I contacted Dexia because I think it is a bank that invests in local authorities. These people must think long term and have a different idea in their management than making money; and they must have a certain awareness of their social role. I therefore thought that they would like to support a project that doesn’t make a lot of hoo-ha, a project that sets an example. As a bank, Dexia has hundreds of thousands of customers and that’s what interests me, because what I want to do is to reach people.
Today a bank can no longer trick its customers. With climate change it is not a good system. People are beginning to ask questions and wonder: what is my bank doing for the environment?
The station will be the first zero emission base and that’s not a little thing! It is a model that entails a certain perfection. It has been designed to operate with efficient energy management. The zero emission target is what we should aim at and this is what the station does, to show that it is possible. For me the word impossible doesn’t exist. If we have achieved it in Antarctica in extremely difficult conditions, we will be able to do it here too!”
Is that the big challenge of the Zero Emission station?
Of course! We must go forward. The Kyoto objectives are fine but we must go much further. With the high overheads, due largely to the logistics, we need a strong public and private partnership. We hope, of course, that the government will participate in the adventure, even if there are many unknowns. With this station, Belgium does the one thing that will give the real vision of what we must go towards for the 21st century. It is an enormous lever for the government at the international level. Together we can reduce CO². We are on our way! And that is really exciting.
At present the fiscal policy is not there. Yes, certain aids are in place but the politicians are not doing enough. Tax incentives for renewable energy only address the small part of the population that has the means and can get a return on the investment. This is another reason why we have associated ourselves with a bank like Dexia. We want to take the issue down to the citizens and give them the means of taking up the challenge of global warming.”
Top
3. Dexia and the International Polar Foundation: a partnership in line with Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility’s strategy of the Group
Dexia has been supporting the “Princess Elisabeth” Antarctic base since May 2007 and will do so for a period of three years.
This is a partnership that fits perfectly into the sustainable development strategy of the Group, whose one of the major planks is combating climate change. But above all it fits into one of the two fundamental areas of Dexia’s sponsorship strategy. The objective of polar research in the Antarctic is to understand how climate disruptions and human activity are linked by analysing the icecap.
Dexia is the only banking institution that is a partner in this operation.
|
|
THE MAIN LINES OF THE GROUP’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
1. Relations with the surrounding society (rating agencies, NGOs…): honouring its commitments.
2. Social and corporate responsibility: promoting diversity, maintaining a high level of dialogue between management and staff and showing civic commitment.
3. Corporate environmental responsibility: reducing its ecological impact (energy consumption in buildings, business travel and introducing responsible purchasing processes).
4. Financing of collective equipment overall solutions to favour investment in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy and in the social sector.
5. Retail banking, insurance and fund management: developing “green” products or individual and institutional clients. |
|
We want to contribute, by establishing standards, to developing a market practice that respects the environment and is compatible with social progress.
The sustainable development action plan, adopted by the Management Board in 2006, has five main lines with which result objectives are associated.
Combating climate change is a priority issue at the centre of these 5 axes. The Group is keen to design, both in-house and for all its clients, solutions aimed at combating climate change in three major ways: prevention, reduction and offsetting of CO2 emissions.
Dexia’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy is organised around two commitment lines: Solidarity and Environment. Within this context, the Group supports environment-friendly actions in all the countries where it is established.
|
|
Exploring the earths climatic records
In order to get a full picture of global warming it is essential to support polar research. As Alan Hubert explains, the poles are an extraordinary laboratory for the study of the climatic change that our planet is undergoing. “The minute bubbles of air and the dust particles imprisoned in the ice for millions of years give researchers information about former climates and enable them to understand current changes and their pace.”
|
|
Top
As a reflection of this last concern, Dexia has decided to support scientific projects whose scope offers real prospects and solutions in relation to global warming.
To be equal to thes ambitions, several entities of the Group have chosen to support, the “Princess Elisabeth³” polar station.
The environment, Alain Hubert reminds us, is something that concerns everyone.
And, as in this field every action is important, limiting its direct environmental impact is one of Dexia’s priorities. Objective No. 1: to reduce its production of carbon dioxide. Without listing all the in-house sustainable development actions, we propose to concentrate on the strategies of a particular entity, Dexia Banque Belgique.
To learn more about the programmes conducted by the other Dexia entities, please visit the sustainable development section of our internet site. (http://www.dexia.com/f/discover/sustainable_strategy.php)
Top
5. Two projects of involving Dexia’s employees in the Group’s Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility strategy
“A constant desire to use energy to the best effect”
“We are conscious of the urgency of the problem of global warming. Economical lighting in buildings, recovery of the heat produced by IT equipment…, sorting waste, printing on both sides to save paper – these are sometimes details, but it is above all about a constant desire to use energy to the best effect.”
Bernard Dehaye, Coordinateur Mobilité et Développement durable chez Dexia Banque
Reducing the use of energy in buildings
Using green energy to supply the buildings and insulating them thermally, making arrangements for switching the lights off automatically…, RUE (Rational Use of Energy) is the key word in the management of Dexia’s buildings.
Mobility strategies
Because of the journey that employees make from home to work and vice versa, Dexia has decided support the efforts of all those who travel eco-responsibly.
Raising employees’ awareness
“What we have already noticed, and what is very important for us, is that what happens in the firm has an impact on the behaviour of employees at home.
We have already heard that colleagues who are aware of the issue have installed solar panels on their houses.
Raising the awareness of 5000 or 7000 employees is fine, but if we can affect their households then we influence 30 to 40 thousand people!”
Top
The sustainable development category of the Dexia Innovation Awards
Dexia attaches value to each one of our employees’ ideas.
This is why it has instituted an Innovation competition whose aim is to stimulate employees to share their innovative ideas and to give them the means to apply the best of them.
The competition was divided into 6 categories among which sustainable development was not least. Thus all Dexia employees were invited to take part in the Group’s strategy for combating global warming.
The competition was a success since 264 ideas for reducing Dexia’s CO2 emissions were put forward by a total of 189 employees.
Great merit is greatly rewarded since the prize for this category of the competition is… the participation to the inaugural trip to the Princess Elisabeth station in Antarctica.
An opportunity for the lucky winner to discover Antarctica and to become fully involved in the life of the station.
The winning proposal provides for setting up a system for automatically switching off the computers of Dexia’s IT pool (12,700 PCs) during the night and at weekends, a period during which they are currently on standby so as to be updated daily.
The implementation of this proposal could lead to an annual reduction of 1659 tonnes of CO2 emissions produced in-house or about 5% of the emissions resulting from the energy consumption of Dexia’s buildings at the end of 2007.
Top