Our own green moves

This summer FinanceAsia magazine will publish its first environmental supplement. The special issue will be dedicated to coverage of finance and the environment û for example, we will look at measures that the finance industry has taken to minimise its own carbon footprint, questioning whether going green helps a company when it seeks to raise money, and analysing the carbon trading industry.

But before we started asking questions of others, we had to take a look at ourselves.

The environmental supplement will be printed on 100% recycled paper. In addition, those magazines sent by post will be placed in biodegradable plastic wrap.

Our financial magazines, including FinanceAsia, AsianInvestor and Private Capital, are currently printed on paper from managed forests û this means if a tree is felled, another is planted.

Our printer is in the process of applying for the ISO14 001 certification, the international specification for an environmental management system. This is a certification that requires companies to install a waste-management system that has long-term commitments to decrease their impact on the environment. Our printer's first audit will be this August, with a second one in October.

Thanks to our internal green audit, we will be using biodegradable plastic for all wraps used for our finance magazines. ôOur goal is for all of our finance titles to be using 100% recycled paper by the end of this year,ö says Jonathan Hirst, publisher in Hong Kong.

Haymarket, our parent company in the United Kingdom, publishes all of its UK magazines on paper from managed forests and is also ISO14 001 certified. Its owner, Lord Michael Heseltine, is a well-known proponent of environmentally friendly and sustainable urban planning and development. His arboretum at Thenford in Northhamptonshire is among the most impressive in Britain, incorporating over 3,500 types of trees and shrubs û that's more than one for every member of the Haymarket Group staff.