Green Citizens’s Code of Conduct

Lalit Money publicly commits itself to the “Green Citizens’s Code of Conduct” and initiative run by Annapurna Media Network. Climate change has become a huge concern for Nepal. Millions of Nepalese are estimated to be at risk from the impacts of climate change. Nepal has become defenseless to climate change and is experiencing changes in temperature and precipitation at a speedier rate than the worldwide normal. Due to its topography, Nepal is uncovered to a run of climate dangers. According to the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of Nepal, extreme climatic events, especially related to temperature, are likely to be more frequent and more severe. As stated, these changes would have a serious impact on different sectors, such as water, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, and livelihoods.

Annapurna Media Network (AMN) is one of the fastest expanding and leading multi-media organization of Nepal. AMN works in enabling social leadership and economic development through responsible media practices. It believes in interconnecting the core functional areas of society and nation. AMN has always believed that media is a mirror of the society which reflects the past, explains the present and reveals the future.

Annapurna Media Network has announced the Unity for Sustainability campaign which came into force from January 1, 2022. The main aim of this campaign is to ‘lead the climate change dialogue’ working closely with all stakeholders on sustainable development mode, particularly focusing on climate-change issues. Collaboration across sectors is crucial in the fight against climate change and strong partnerships can unlock the potential of climate-friendly technology. We believe that every sector has a unique role to play in the areas of climate change. When companies lead the climate change issues, their entire workforce is engaged and the public’s mindset, behaviors, and lifestyles can also change. The campaign was declared through an official event organized on November 24 at Hyatt Place, Kathmandu in the presence of the Annapurna Media Network family. An ‘Expression of Interest’ for stakeholders and partners interested in associate with the campaign was also released on the same date.

Green Citizens’s Code of Conduct for Unity for Sustainability

Green Citizens’s Code of Conduct for Unity for Sustainability (UFS) have 15 recommendations for greener economy of Nepal, and they are:

1. Apply progressive interest rate on hire purchase of vehicles based on their Carbon footprint. Those private vehicles with larger carbon footprint are levied larger.

2. Banks and Public office should start carpooling or ride sharing service for employees using Electric vehicles (EVs).

3. Eco-labeling of vehicles based on carbon footprint.

4. No parking space for vehicles with large carbon footprints at public places.

5. Lowering insurance premium for electric vehicles by at least 10 basis points (0.1%).

6. Creating green index for each ward in major metropolitan cities.

7. Adding Green and Red exit channels at major malls or marts. Customers coming with their own bags can exit through the green channel where there are multiple sales counters. Whereas customers without their own bag will have to exit through the red channel with only one sales counter, thus increasing waiting time for those customers without personal bags.

8. Insurance of green bond for financing community forest and community water supply system

9. Making electric vehicle default choice while applying for car loans

10. Make double sided paper print a default choice while printing at public offices, banks, insurance, and universities.

11. Making Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as compulsory risk analysis tool while creating portfolios at banks and investment companies.

12. Enabling QR code-based payment in Government Offices.

13. Introducing an upskills program targeted to car mechanic for fixing Electric vehicles

14. Creating Seed Fund for startups that comes up with green solution.

15. Introducing phase wise shift in overall taxation policy from labor towards the natural resources. Currently taxation on labor is far greater than the levied-on resources. This encourages companies to continually extract natural resources instead of investing in people and processes to produce greater productivity.

The above recommendations were published in an article on May 11 by Annapurna media. Along with Lalit money, there were 56 other organizations who have partnered up for the upliftment of society.