BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK, the specialist provider of leasing solutions for professional equipment, has today announced it has been successfully recertified for the Carbon Trust Standard for carbon management.

The Standard recognises the business’ sustained and ongoing commitment to improving its carbon efficiency and environmental footprint, and is renowned as a leading independent certification of an organisation’s achievements in reducing its environmental impact.

Moving forward, the renewal of the company’s 2015 certification enables BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions to further contribute to and benefit from a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficiency strategies and commercialising low-carbon technologies. In order to achieve the certification, the business was required to demonstrate a reduction in carbon since the first certification period.

Commenting on the re-certification, CEO of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK, Jean-Michel Boyer said:

Successfully achieving this Standard is a huge testament to our team and the work that they have put into reducing our carbon footprint.

In 2017, in accordance with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, BNP Paribas Group put in place a policy to reduce its direct impact on the environment and is guiding its clients toward business opportunities that promote a low-carbon economy—a strong and impactful commitment.

We were really pleased to win the Best Business-Charity Partnership award. Abi Baskerville, Melanie Weatheritt, Tom Williams and Charmaine Mossman were all honoured to accept this outstanding achievement on behalf of the company.

Describing their reasons for selecting BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, Naomi House & Jacksplace said:

For this award, we would like to celebrate a company that has supported Naomi House & Jacksplace in more ways than one: staff fundraising, event participation, gifts, sponsorship and volunteering. This company is a champion of the community.

Special thanks go to all of those who participated and donated in the many events this year, including:

• Ultimate Store Wars
• Gauntlet Games
• Charity Fun Day
• 3 peaks…shout out to Tim Edwards and Juliet Wilton!
• Sky Dive
• Bake sales
• Dress downs

Here’s to a successful 2018 with many more events to take on!

As of 2017, BNP Paribas UK decentralised its charity partnerships and gave its subsidiaries the freedom to support the charitable organisations of their choice. This reinforces the Group’s ambition to allow teams to get more involved in community causes and build strong links with local charities.

Naomi House and Jacksplace in Basingstoke was an easy choice for the team. We had already participated in some of the organisation’s fundraising activities, so the foundation for a more permanent partnership was easy to build on. Naomi House and Jacksplace provides expert hospice care to more than 340 life-limited and life-threatened children and young adults. Its services extend to the families too and include counselling and bereavement support.

We will be raising money throughout the year through events, raffles and our annual ‘Big Challenge’.

A novel approach for 2017 is to join forces with a business partner, Crown Forklift Trucks, and take part in ‘The Gauntlet Games’ which takes place on Saturday 13 May at Matterley Bowl, Winchester. The event features a 5km (or 10km for those feeling super fit!) obstacle course, and participants can look forward to tackling a series of gladiator zones that will require them to bounce on inflatables, swing from monkey bars over water, battle gladiators and if lucky, escape through a giant slippery slide.

Later in the year, we will be organising a Fun Day scheduled for Saturday 2 September. It will include food, music, games and fun for all – more details coming soon…

Naomi House and Jacksplace is an incredible charity, staffed by extraordinary people who are committed to providing excellent clinical care to life-limited children. This costs money to do – £7 million per year to be precise. With only 10 percent of income coming from the government and statutory sources, Naomi House and Jacksplace relies on fundraising initiatives and partnerships like ours to maintain its services.

We encourage everyone in the Basingstoke area to join us for both fundraising events this year. Come and have some fun, and help out children in need.

Over the course of 2016, we managed to raise a total of £17,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society. Our intrepid staff raised over £8,000 taking part in two very athletic challenges: the 100-mile cycle from Basingstoke to Bristol and the Tough Mudder team-building obstacle race.

Our annual business conference took place on Friday 9 December and we celebrated the season with a Christmas raffle which raised a further £1750. Partners, suppliers and agencies generously donated 30 high value prizes and helped make this year’s raffle a huge success. The fantastic prizes included Canon Powershot cameras, a 42 inch Samsung TV, an Ipad Air2 32GB, hampers from Fortnum and Mason, £250 worth of vouchers and an overnight stay at Celtic Manor.

We would like to thank our partners who helped to make our raffle a huge success: