We continue to present the 2021 nominations for the Energynomics Awards, with the Best Corporate Citizen category, a category suported by Wiren. Eight projects have been submitted to the Jury. Only one of the projects below will be awarded during the Energynomics Gala on December 16th, but every company and everyone involved in these projects deserve our respect and the widest promotion. We thank all the companies and personalities involved in this effort to draw the image of the Romanian energy industry in 2021 through its achievements!
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CEZ Romania – Oltenia Marathon
The Oltenia Marathon is a sporting event that puts Râmnicu Vâlcea on the map of the great running and MTB competitions. Having as a starting point Zăvoi Park, it brings together lovers of outdoor movement, interested in a healthy lifestyle and open to get involved in causes with social impact. All participation fees are doubled by CEZ Romania and donated to local causes. In 2021, 631 competitors gathered at the physical and virtual start, including wheelchair athletes. The event also brings together internal and external volunteers (over 200 in 2019/50 in 2021 – in pandemic conditions).
Now in its ninth edition, the Oltenia Marathon was born from the company’s desire to bring employees, customers, partners and the local community closer, becoming an annual meeting place for athletes and volunteers.
CEZ Vânzare – CODE Kids
“CODE Kids – Children coding in public libraries” is a program facilitated by the Progress Foundation, aims to create a coding movement and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in which children, young people and librarians in rural areas develop their digital skills and gets involved in the life of the community they come from by solving creative digital themes.
Since 2018, in support of the digitalization strategy and adaptation to new technologies, the energy and natural gas supplier CEZ Vânzare supports the development of coding clubs in Oltenia. About 2,000 children in the country, from rural areas, aged between 10 and 14 are encouraged to get involved and even pursue a career in technology. The Foundation facilitates access to a long-term training program in digital skills through an action learning approach. Public libraries have a central role in the CODE Kids project, in learning technology and using the Internet in a practical way.
CEZ Vânzare – Energiada: Be Olympic in Energy
The project is part of the #PromisiuneaVerde umbrella concept, the platform through which CEZ Vânzare encourages care for the resources offered by nature and the optimal use of energy in the home. Energiada is a natural continuation of the 2020 campaign #PromisiuneaPentruAcasa which had the same goal. All these actions are also developed thanks to the partnership that CEZ Vânzare has with SocialWatt, the European project for combating energy poverty. The main objective was to present practical measures to reduce monthly energy costs and necessary for the adoption of energy-efficient behavior. According to a survey conducted by CEZ Vânzare among its customers, only 23% of customers consider themselves very informed, while 40% of them consider themselves not at all or very little informed about energy efficiency.
Distribuție Energie Oltenia – Electrician Apprentice
The lack of specialists in the field and the desire to prepare the generation of electricians of the future determined the launch of the “Electrician Apprentice” program. The desire to achieve a high level of performance and the results obtained so far are clear proof that the job of electrician brings long-term satisfaction. Through this program, the company wants to change the perception of vocational education and increase diversity in the energy industry, by including and ensuring the visibility of all groups, regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture or any other component of identity.
Upon graduation of the three years of study, young people enrolled in the program will have solid theoretical and practical knowledge in the field, necessary for integration into the labor market and employment in the company.
In the school year 2020-2021, the learning process continued uninterrupted and Distribuție Energie Oltenia became the only operator in the country that supported the vocational school by providing all students with the digital tools necessary to continue the educational process. The company also kept intact the funds allocated for performance scholarships and provided this benefit for the first 5 students/class. The personal development workshops moved to the online environment, where the same values were still delivered.
MOL România – Extended CSR programs
MOL Romania is known for its long-term commitment to endowing hospitals in Romania. One of the best examples in this regard is the investment of 425,000 euros in the construction of a helipad on the rooftop of the Marie Curie Emergency Clinical Hospital in Bucharest, a first for a pediatric hospital in Romania. In total, MOL has donated more than 1,5 million euros to the Romanian medical system in the last 2 years.
MOL Romania’s programs also focus on other key areas for the development of society, such as education (MOL Program to Support Young Talents; Permitted Program for the Future; Mentor Awards) and environment (Green Belts Program).
MOL also managed to keep the tradition and be partners of the Cluj Film Festival – TIFF 2021 and UNTOLD 2021, a long-awaited edition.
Nuclearelectrica – proactive and transparent CSR
In the first part of last year, CSR actions focused on combating the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic and on treating cases in emergency hospitals by authorities as a matter of urgency. For the year 2021, Nuclearelectrica analyzed the main concerns of Romanians related to areas that need to be improved and chose education, health and environmental protection. As a result, it allocated 15 million lei for CSR projects in 2020-2021, in the medical, educational, social, cultural, environmental protection fields.
In a gesture of responsibility towards the communities in which it operates, 50% of the budget for sponsorships (respectively 5 million lei) was directed in 2021 to the local community in the Cernavoda area and adjacent areas.
OMV Petrom – Romania Plants for Tomorrow: the largest privately funded forestation initiative in Romania
OMV Petrom aims to be part of the solution in the climate change debate. In addition to addressing this matter in our own operations in 2020 OMV Petrom launched the largest privately funded forestation initiative in Romania, “Romania plants for tomorrow” with a 4.6 million euro budget, a solution for the identified problem. Approximately 1,500,000 seedlings will be planted on 300 hectares during 2020-2023. The project aims to help those communities affected by landslides. At the same time, planting contributes to carbon dioxide capture, forests being considered the most important storage of carbon dioxide. It is estimated that each planted tree could neutralize 5.5 kg of carbon dioxide on average per year.
Beyond the planting sessions, other initiatives were launched under the “Romania plants for tomorrow” umbrella, such as the first platform for calculating and estimating the carbon sink potential of the newly planted forests, in collaboration with Forest Design, or the Educational Forest – a pilot project for students enrolled in forestry technical education (Câmpina Forestry Technical College) and other eight local schools in Prahova County.
S Schneider Electric – The Employee Assistance Programme
The Covid19 pandemic forced people to change the way they live and work, and with that more and more people started experiencing a higher stress level. Schneider Electric felt the need to offer free help to its employees and their families in this difficult period. Thus, the Employee Assistance Programme offers counseling, legal and financial consultation, and crisis intervention services to Schneider Electric Romania employees and their families, through ComPsych, the world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs.