Sustainability

In the current landscape where global supply chains play a pivotal role, IDA Foundation is taking steps to minimise its environmental impact while continuing its crucial mission of providing medicines and supplies to global health partners in low- and middle-income countries. A noteworthy initiative is the collaboration with CocoPallet, a startup aiming to disrupt supply chains by replacing traditional wooden pallets with an innovative, circular alternative.

Email, reports, data - in an era defined by technological process, we have witnessed a rapid increase in our reliance on digital devices and platforms, and in turn, an alarming increase in the global digital footprint. Inspired by last Saturday's National Clean Up Day, IDA launched a digital clean up challenge in our offices.

We are proud to share that we recently passed our ISO 14001 verification audit without any non-conformities. We are looking forward to continue our sustainability journey and to keep building sustainable value chains together with our dedicated partners.

This World Environment Day, we're excited to share some of our recent efforts towards making a positive impact.  Achieving our ISO-14001 certification in 2022, demonstrates our dedication and also gives us a solid framework to minimizing environmental impacts and finding innovative solutions. Below, we dive into some of our recent activities and collaborative projects.

In our pursuit of global health impact, IDA Foundation (IDA) acknowledges the importance of responsible travel practices. In line with our (ISO14001-certified) Environmental Management System, IDA has looked at all of its environmental impacts and identified ways in which we can minimise our footprint.

World Earth Day is celebrated annually on the 22nd of April, to raise awareness and appreciation for the earth’s environment. The day is dedicated to promoting the importance of protecting our planet and taking action to ensure a sustainable future for all.

This Saturday is Digital Cleanup Day (March 18). Digital Cleanup Day is an annual event that encourages people to declutter their digital lives and promote sustainability. With the rise of technology, we have become increasingly reliant on digital devices and platforms, leading to a surge in electronic waste (e-waste) and a growing global digital carbon footprint.

Today is International Women’s Day! For this special day, we organised a specific ‘Future of..’ session to discuss gender equality, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). During these ‘Future of..’ sessions within IDA, we address different topics about our working culture, projects or partnerships. We take the opportunity to invite guest speakers and to learn more about other departments and ongoing projects.

From 6-18 November, global leaders are gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh, to discuss climate change; one of the largest issues the world is currently facing. WHO foresees that between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause around 250.000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress only.

We are happy to announce that IDA Foundation has received ISO 14001:2015 certification for our Environmental Management System (EMS), applying to our sales, procurement, distribution of medicinal products and medical supplies, and value-added services.

The SDG Action Days (23-27 September) are an opportunity to highlight sustainable progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which goals call for urgent action and is an opportunity to look for ways in which we can collaboratively take extra steps towards achieving the SDGs.

Through our partnership with Solvoz, we have explored ways in which the use and disposal of malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) can be made more sustainable. The outcomes of this study are now available.

Last Saturday, 17 September, was World Cleanup Day. On this day, awareness is raised on the global waste problem while uniting governments, volunteers and organisations around the world.

On the 25th of September, Dutch organisations, municipalities, the Dutch ministries and embassies together take part in the flag day, an event through which they show their support for the United Nations’ Global Goals / SDGs. More than 850 Global Goals-flags will be raised on this day!

As part of IDA Foundation’s sustainability journey, our headquarters in Amsterdam were renovated in 2018 according to the highest green standards. As the area around our office is currently undergoing many changes, requiring our parking lot to be moved, IDA is taking the opportunity to also turn our office terrain into a climate-adaptive green zone that will benefit the local environment.

IDA’s has published its first Communication on Engagement (CoE) as a participant in the UN Global Compact.

This week (20-27 September) is Global Climate Strike week; also an opportunity for IDA Foundation to step up to support young climate strikers all over the world. Following earlier climate strikes these past years, this week has broken records with millions of people on the streets to take action for our climate. Today, our employees joined the climate strike by ‘striking’ outside our Amsterdam office.