BVNA receives iiE Bronze award

The BVNA is celebrating after being awarded the Investors in the Environment (iiE) Bronze certificate in environmental improvement.

BVNA senior vice-president Jo Oakden chose sustainability as her theme for her 2020-21 presidential year, and to show its commitment, the association registered with iiE and worked towards the industry recognised accreditation.

Surprising results

BVNA chief executive Huw Jones said: “This involved benchmarking and monitoring our environmental performance over a 12-month period. This produced some surprising results – as by reducing council meetings from six in-person meetings a year to two in-person and four on Zoom a year, we have halved our carbon footprint.

“After 12 months following regular monitoring visits and a final audit in November, we are delighted we have been awarded a Bronze certificate in recognition of the work carried out.

“This is not the end as the BVNA made a long-term commitment that sustainability and the environment would be themes that become embedded in our future work.”

Just the start

Of the accreditation, Mrs Oakden said: “This has been a real team effort; growing every single BVNA team member’s awareness of the impact we each have as an individual when it comes to being environmentally sustainable.

“This is just the start as we will continue to be involved with driving environmental sustainability forward and encouraging our members to do the same.”

‘Learn and improve’

Meanwhile, BVNA president Alex Taylor, whose theme this year is resilience, has confirmed the association’s commitment to continue the good work.

Mrs Taylor said: “I am incredibly proud that the BVNA has achieved the iiE Bronze certificate. We have put lots of measures in place to reduce our carbon footprint and improve sustainability here at the BVNA, and it has paid off.

“Senior vice-president Jo Oakden has led the way with her 2020-21 theme of sustainability, and as a result we will endeavour to continue to learn and improve in any way we can to improve how sustainable we are as an association.”

‘Lead by example’

Mrs Taylor added: “I would like to thank our office and accounts manager Angela Mariconda, who has put so much effort into driving change at the BVNA so that we achieved this accreditation.

“We are hoping to lead by example so that other veterinary nurses will be inspired to think about what they do at their practice, how it might affect the environment and then look at different ways to improve environmental sustainability, which is something we all need to be mindful of.”