EAP’s Swarna Solutions leads way in Group’s sustainability agenda

From left: Kanishka Jayasinghe from CCC with CEO Sanith de Silva Wijeyeratne, CarbonNeutral Regional Representative Vivian Frost, Swarna Solutions Director/CEO Lasantha Peiries, EAP Holdings Head of QA Aloka Bandara and EAP Holdings Chairman/MD Mano Tittawella 

Swarna Solutions Ltd., a subsidiary of the EAP Group recently announced that the company has obtained its internationally recognised CarbonNeutral certification. The certificate was presented by The CarbonNeutral Company Regional Representative Vivian Frost, to the senior management of Swarna Solutions, on the occasion of World Environment Day. 

Swarna Solutions provides ERP and IT related services to Group companies. In an era that is characterised by corporates around the world, realigning their strategies to incorporate environmental sustainability, Swarna Solutions is embarking on a new journey to ensure the application of greener business processes throughout the company.  

Speaking on this momentous occasion, Swarna Solutions Ltd. Director/CEO Lasantha Pieries said, “It is the responsibility of every corporate citizen to do whatever it takes to mitigate the threat of global warming. Protecting the planet is no longer the responsibility of governments and environmentalists. If we want to preserve our planet and humanity at large, we must all take responsibility for our actions and make a positive change. We at Swarna Solutions are happy to be associated with an initiative to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this light we are very pleased to receive our CarbonNeutral certification. As our Chairman, Mano Tittawella, has advised, this is the first major step that the EAP Group has taken to reduce its environmental impact.”

Swarna Solutions Ltd. worked with The Carbon Consulting Company (CCC) – Sri Lanka’s premier integrated sustainability solutions provider to obtain this certification. The evaluation process included quantifying and offsetting the total amount of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) emitted from various aspects of the company’s operations over a period of 12 months. Once the company’s carbon footprint was measured in tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (tCO2e), Swarna Solutions Ltd. purchased an equivalent amount of internationally validated carbon credits through CCC’s UK-based partner – The CarbonNeutral Company, who in turn certified the company as CarbonNeutral. 

The CarbonNeutral Company is the foremost voluntary carbon offset provider in the world and a leading provider of carbon reduction solutions. The leading industry magazine Environmental Finance recently honoured the company for the fourth consecutive year with the ‘Best Offset Retailer’ award in 2014. 

The carbon credit mechanism involves companies financing projects that remove, prevent or sequester GHGs from the atmosphere, through the sale of carbon credits. The purchaser is then provided with a certificate/permit representing the right to compensate (offset) an equivalent amount of emissions of an operational entity belonging to them as a return on investment, thus enabling a reduction in overall global GHG emissions. 

As a part of the GHG assessment and CarbonNeutral certification, a carbon management plan was also implemented at Swarna Solutions Limited with the support of CCC. An in-house ‘Green Team’ was established and charged with the mission of introducing key performance indicators to track, monitor and work towards reducing the carbon footprint of all business operations that are an integral part of Swarna Solutions Ltd.

Commenting on the certification, Vivian Frost stated, “We would like to congratulate Swarna Solutions for achieving its CarbonNeutral company certification and we welcome them to the growing business community in Sri Lanka that is committed to reducing their environmental impact.”

CCC CEO Sanith De S. Wijeyeratne also stated, “We are proud to have worked with Swarna Solutions Ltd. to assess its carbon footprint, in order to help the company mitigate its environmental impact through offsetting – a method that has gained appeal amongst many businesses worldwide that are mindful of the damaging environmental effects of GHG emissions. We congratulate the company’s management and sustainability teams on this noteworthy accomplishment, and we should all be grateful to companies like this that strive to make a real difference in combating our global environmental crisis.”