At the end of last year, 2022, we produced our traditional annual calendar for the last time. This year, we will donate the costs saved by not producing the calendar to a good cause!
But how to choose a good cause from all those great initiatives? Aspects that we consider important to contribute to include nature conservation in the Netherlands, that provides action and results. So this year we highlight ARK Rewilding Netherlands and in particular their nature education programme.

As an ecological research and consultancy company, the natural environment is our core area of work. Waardenburg Ecology is involved in the research, advice and implementation within numerous projects in which sustainability, restoration of biodiversity, wildlife-friendly design and climate change adaptation play a fundamental role. We already make a substantial difference through such projects but we go beyond even this. We proactively look for additional steps that benefit not only the customer but the natural world and society at large.

We are a proud partner of the Delta Plan Biodiversity, and regular sponsors of the World Wildlife Fund and of the Dutch charity Dive the North Sea Clean.
We have founded BESE: circular and biodegradable products for habitat restoration, with which we restore ecosystems worldwide (www.BESE-products.com). We also introduced and marketed the concept of blue carbon in the Netherlands: CO2 sequestration through the restoration of marine ecosystems (www.bluecarbon.nl). Furthermore, we have purchased a wetland area near Nederhorst den Berg in the Netherlands, which we manage for wildlife and further develop innovations for nature restoration.

For many years the energy transition has been a major component of our work. Through our work, we are able to make major contributions to the development of renewable energy whilst ensuring minimal impacts on wildlife. We have also taken steps to becoming greener closer to home, including insulating our buildings and reducing our energy consumption. Although we already use renewable electricity, we are currently realizing a plan to become self-sufficient through the installation of solar panels.
An upgrade of our servers has already resulted in a substantial reduction in our electricity consumption. We are also transitioning to electric vehicles and have already upgraded five cars to electric or hybrid. One of our boats is also now fully electric.

The CO2 performance ladder is a widely recognised instrument for reducing a company's CO2 emissions. We also use this tool to improve our business operations, such as through our energy management action plan, a CO2 emission inventory, and CO2 reduction plan. Twice a year, our company's carbon footprint is determined and published on our website.

Social aspects are an important part of our CSR policy. We actively work on being an equal opportunities employer and invest in the training of the specialists of the future. Women now constitute over 40% of our workforce and this share is continuing to grow. Several positions in our management team are also held by women.

We invest financially in various social activities; for example, items such as nest boxes are made for us by a community workshop and we regularly employ people who would otherwise find it difficult to find work. We contribute to training by offering internships, teaching courses, participating in professional advisory committees (for example, Van Hall Larenstein, Hogeschool Zeeland) and participating in various working groups, including for the Dutch branch organization Netwerk Groene Bureaus. These investments are not only beneficial for ourselves, but allow us to share our knowledge and skills with the wider community and the ecologists of the future. Finally, we follow the code of conduct of the Dutch branch organization Netwerk Groene Bureaus.