U.S. Embassy Budapest Acknowledged In Green Office Competition 2010

  • 25 May 2010 4:00 AM
U.S. Embassy Budapest Acknowledged In Green Office Competition 2010
"Between February 15 and April 23, four sections of the Embassy including Public Affairs, Office of Defense Cooperation, Commercial Section and USAID, participated in a Green Office competition which was organized by a Hungarian environmental NGO, KOVET. The Embassy offices were competing with 32 profit-oriented and non-profit organizations.

The competing offices all pledged to undertake new initiatives to become greener during the two months of the competition.

A six-member Green Team from the Embassy elaborated an action plan that included more economic use of light and water, more eco-friendly use of paper, more energy savings and more efficient waste collection. During the two months of the campaign, the participating offices achieved a 20% reduction of the Embassy’s paper consumption and switched to recycled local paper. Employees also saved energy by turning off unnecessary lights and they improved office air quality by bringing plants to work.

Two five-member Embassy teams participated in a “Bike to Work” campaign that was launched by the Hungarian Bicycle Club and the Hungarian Ministry of Transport, Telecommunication and Energy. In deciding to participate in the campaign, the Embassy wanted to promote environment-conscious urban traffic in Hungary and to raise awareness for the need to decrease our carbon-dioxide emissions.

All participating institutions were audited after the competition and the results were handed over to an independent jury. The jury announced the result of the competition at an award ceremony on May 18, where the Embassy’s successful participation was acknowledged by the organizers and the project leader of the Embassy Green Team was presented with a certificate of merit."

Source: U.S. Embassy Budapest

Photo: Members of the Embassy Bike to Work team (Embassy photo)

  • How does this content make you feel?