Testimonial
APG
“Very positive way to engage in sustainability.”
APG wants to be able to provide participants with a good pension and at the same time contribute to a healthy, sustainable world. That is why they invest their participants’ pension contributions in a responsible manner. APG also has a sustainable view when it comes to its own business operations. And then it is only logical to also look critically at their own behavior. That is why we organized the APG Footprint Challenge together.
It was an exciting battle between almost 400 participants from Amsterdam, Heerlen, Hong Kong and New York. Together with Juul Jeurninck-Janssen and Elemerse de Jong, we look back.
Juul Jeurninck-Janssen
Advisor Sustainability
Why did you organize the APG Footprint Challenge?
Juul: “APG has high ambitions in the field of sustainability. Sustainability is very important in our business operations. This challenge was a great opportunity to involve APG employees and to create awareness. A side effect was that they also took a critical look at APG as an organization and gave tips with which we can make our business operations even more sustainable.”
What did you hope to achieve?
Elemerse; “That APG employees would enjoy working on sustainability and that they would maintain that behavior even after the challenge. Another condition was that it would not cost employees too much time and that worked out well.”
How did you feel about participating in the APG Footprint Challenge?
Elemerse: “Despite the fact that I already thought I knew a lot, I still learned a lot. Such a challenge is a great incentive. I really went the extra mile, because otherwise I would miss out on points. And the great thing is that I also inspired friends to take sustainable steps!”
Juul: “As a sustainability advisor at APG, I am already very busy making a positive impact, but I really enjoyed the challenge. It’s a very positive way to engage in sustainability and it really activates. I also learned some things myself; such as the water footprint of certain products.”
Elemerse de Jong
Senior Communication Advisor
“Colleagues talked about it a lot and the teams had a lot of fun.”
What does the APG Footprint Challenge mean for you as an organization and for the employees?
Elemerse: “It has put sustainability on the map in a different way. The great thing is that some employees who are not at the forefront when it comes to sustainability have also been won over by the challenge. And we loved that employees have inspired many people in their personal environment.”
What do you think of the result of the APG Footprint Challenge?
Juul: “We were very positively surprised by the high number of participants. Together we achieved a great result, colleagues were very enthusiastic and indicated that they would like to do this more often. It is always a challenge to involve people who are not interested in sustainability at all and to keep everyone involved.”
What are you most proud of?
Elemerse: “The conversations it has generated in the organization. Colleagues talked about it a lot and the teams had a lot of fun.”
What do you think of the communication with us and the way we organised the challenge?
Elemserse: “The collaboration with Laura and Miriam was very pleasant. They are very enthusiastic, very flexible and have taken a lot of work off our hands. The basic means of communication are all available, and you can decide for yourself whether you want to go the extra mile.”
Would you recommend other organizations to participate in a Footprint Challenge?
Juul & Elemserse: “We would definitely recommend the Footprint Challenge. It doesn’t really matter if you are not doing much with sustainability yet as an organization, or if you are already doing a lot. It can really boost sustainable behavior.”
Ready to accept the challenge?
Do you also want to make a positive impact together with your colleagues? View our sustainability programmes.
