Published on 28 October, 2007 .
As the latest UN environmental report paints the starkest picture yet of the planet’s failing health, the insurer is one of a growing number of Irish businesses setting the benchmark in becoming greener.
It joins firms such as KPMG, which became the first Irish professional services firm to become carbon neutral earlier this year.
Monaghan-based housebuilder Century Homes is set to cash in by building carbon neutral houses and UK-based Irish construction firm Gleeson Homes is in the running to build Britain’s first carbon neutral village.
Meanwhile, €5bn food and grocery retailer Musgrave Group, owner of Centra and Super Valu, plans for parts of its business to become carbon neutral next year.
Hibernian, which made profits of €189m last year, is one of the country’s largest insurers and employs 2,000 people here.
A spokesman declined to reveal the company’s investment in the initiative, which involved sourcing energy from wind and other renewable sources, as well as axing over 350 power-guzzling printers in its 27 offices here.
The firm is also offsetting its carbon emissions from power use and business travel by financing a biogas production project in Sri Lanka and wind turbine schemes in India and China.