Protecting people’s health requires protecting the planet. In this context, the way in which travel is carried out is one of the fundamental axes to control the environmental impact. Sustainable mobility seeks alternatives that prioritize the reduction of polluting gas emissions when we move to alleviate the problems of climate change and pollution that affect large cities.
From this perspective, companies have the ability to promote a change towards a more environmentally friendly future through the promotion of sustainable solutions in their mobility policy, thus improving their ecological footprint and generating a positive effect on their employees and the environment in which they operate.
Faced with this situation, Sanitas, with the aim of minimizing the impact of the daily transportation of its more than 10,700 employees to their work centers, promotes new improvements to its sustainable mobility plan every year. The company launched the initiative in 2020, combining environmentally friendly transportation options to its work centers, along with a firm commitment to teleworking for those employees in non-care positions.
Its strategy includes free bus routes to its headquarters in Madrid and collaboration with “motosharing” systems in large cities such as Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and Valencia. In addition, it promotes the use of alternative means of transportation with the installation of parking for bicycles and scooters.
In fact, this year Sanitas has just incorporated into its mobility plan an innovative electric charging point for employee scooters, which is powered by solar energy, which it is piloting at its CIMA hospital in Barcelona.
This is a solution developed by the start-up Solum and was a finalist in Ecodisruptive 2022 in Spain (the global talent and innovation program of the Bupa group, parent company of Sanitas, which aims to find innovative solutions in terms of sustainability, which can be applied in the day-to-day business). The system, installed as a pilot project for hospital employees, allows scooters to be parked on photovoltaic tiles, capable of generating 320 kW/h of energy, the equivalent of what a home consumes for 6 months. Likewise, a single station like this can avoid the production of up to 3 tons of CO2. Includes a padlock system for
Also guarantee the safety of the vehicle for those employees who choose to use this mode of transportation to go to their shift at the hospital.
At the group level, the measure with the best reception so far, within the Sanitas mobility plan, has been the free bus service for the 1,538 employees who travel daily to the two buildings where its headquarters and office are located. call center. It has eight routes and 3 different schedules, which connect various points in the Spanish capital with the company’s central office. During this year 2023, the service has made almost 23,000 user trips, which have avoided the emission of 27 tons of CO2*.
Another of the notable actions to reduce emissions from the trips of its employees is Sanitas’ commitment to teleworking. The company sees in this a method that, in addition to minimizing transfers and the need to develop and maintain transportation infrastructure, promotes greater flexibility in schedules, facilitates family conciliation and reduces fuel costs, with lower emissions. polluting gases. During 2023, 1,630 non-care employees of Sanitas have used this type of work, which means that nearly 160,000 trips have been avoided, which would have resulted in the emission of 32 tons of CO2*.
“We are very proud of the progress we have made in terms of sustainable mobility over the last year. Our way of getting around continues to evolve, which is allowing us to reduce emissions and contribute to cleaner air. However, we have to continue promoting measures that ensure a more sustainable and beneficial future for society,” says Catherine Cummings, Director of Sustainability at Sanitas.
All the measures implemented have allowed the company to be recognized in the 4th edition of the International Mobility Awards for having demonstrated “a firm commitment to sustainable mobility through the implementation of concrete and effective measures.”
*The calculated data are estimates made on the trips of employees to which data from public sources relating to the modal distribution of mobility in the city of Madrid have been applied.
Consult more responsible information in the Corresponsables publications and in the Sanitas Practical Case in the Corresponsables 2024 Yearbook.