LAHORE WWF-Pakistan and Banglalink Digital Communications Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the Green Office Initiative at their head office in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is the first international office working with WWF-Pakistan on the programme. Officials said the implementation of Green Office programme will help Banglalink to reduce the use of electricity, paper, travel, water and waste in the office which will not only reduce associated costs but carbon emissions as well. The Green Office team of WWF-Pakistan will liaise with Banglalink to devise an environment management system to set targets to cut back on the use of resources. The Green Office Initiative is geared towards bringing a behavioural change in its member offices; therefore, regular training and workshops will be conducted to raise awareness among Banglalink's employees to ensure effective implementation. Nazifa Butt, Manager Environmental Assessment/Green Office Initiative, WWF-Pakistan, said that organisations could cut direct and indirect carbon emissions from their offices and minimise their contribution to climate change through the implementation of the Green Office Initiative. She added that Green Office certified companies aimed at reducing their dependency on erratic electricity and water supply in the country. “There’s a continuous push to find renewable energy alternatives and even building rainwater storage facilities in many of the objectives of WWF-Pakistan's Green Office Initiative are in line with the recently announced national policy to reduce carbon emissions from Pakistan by at least five percent,” she maintained. WWF officials said WWF-Pakistan’s Green Office Initiative is an extension of WWF-Finland's Green Office concept which provides the working community the opportunity to work with WWF's international goal to provide a better living environment. The Green Office Initiative was started in the country by WWF-Pakistan in 2009. They concluded that till now, a total of 45 offices had signed up for the implementation of the learning programme in order to reduce consumption, save costs and improve environmental sustainability. Last year, 11 Green Office member organisations saved a total of 600 metric tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.
