Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability Program
The global investment community is becoming increasingly socially conscious in screening investment opportunities, and the impact of this reality on industry is becoming increasingly significant. It is evident that many companies are not only enhancing their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, but with the ever-changing landscape of how information is communicated in the world today, these companies are also working to be more transparent and diligent in communicating this to the public. Our company recognizes that our clients cannot do this all on their own, and that there is an opportunity for service providers to increase their support in these endeavours. As such, Universal Geomatics Solutions Corp. is committed to do its part in finding solutions to help maximize beneficial outcomes in industry ESG performance.
In 2019, Universal began strengthening its ESG by implementing a new Indigenous Inclusion Program, which has now been fully integrated into its operations. Upon yearend review of the company’s current ESG, the team found that another significant opportunity to augment performance is to develop an integrated Environmental Sustainability Program (ESP). Please refer to timeline below for ESP development progress to date.
April 9, 2019 – UGS Strategic Team begins preliminary research on Environmental Sustainability in business
November 6, 2019 – UGS Strategic Team proposes ESP initiative to shareholders at Annual General Meeting
December 18, 2019 – UGS Board of Directors Approves Development of Environmental Sustainability Program
January 6, 2020 – UGS Announces Environmental Sustainability Program Development
February 7, 2020 – UGS officially launched Environmental Sustainability Program Development with Employee Engagement Survey on Environmental Sustainability
May 27, 2020 – ESP Committee formation and first monthly meeting
September 15, 2020 – Environmental Sustainability Policy issued to all staff. Thanks to participation from over 50% of the UGS team in our employee engagement survey, the ESP Committee was able to compose an Environmental Sustainability Policy that is closely aligned with the culture and values of our company. Using the data compiled from the responses of UGS employees to the Environmental Sustainability Survey, the ESP Committee compared, edited and voted on several policy drafts until the policy that best reflects our company’s values and strategic goals was crafted.
December 3, 2020 – UGS offers all staff a one-time reimbursement of $25 of the cost of purchasing a rechargeable battery set in December. The company also invests in rechargeable batteries for mice/keyboards for the office. Additionally, to conserve energy and become a greener organization, employees are asked to turn mice and keyboards off at end of the day, so batteries are not unnecessarily drained.
January 2021 – UGS engages GHG Accounting Services to perform an assessment of the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for the 2020 calendar year.
April 21, 2021 – UGS receives its GHG Inventory Report 2020. This report will provide the company with baseline measurements of the company’s emissions, in order to determine areas for improvement and targets for the future.
May 27, 2021 – UGS announces net-zero carbon emissions for 2020 fleet. As a capstone to the first year of its ESP, UGS commissioned the planting of 2209 trees by Tree Canada in their National Greening Program to compensate for the emissions of its truck, ATV and snowmobile fleet, from January 1 to December 31, 2020. Canada is one of the world’s leaders when it comes to managing its forests sustainably and has one of the lowest rates of deforestation. UGS is proud to contribute to helping green areas in need of reforestation or afforestation.
July 2021 – UGS signs a Project Forest Bronze Grove Partnership 2021 to support their Swan River First Nation Ecological Reconciliation Project
Environmental Sustainability Policy
Universal Geomatics Solutions Corp. acknowledges that we have a duty to our stakeholders and future generations alike, to operate in an environmentally responsible manner. As such, we are committed to do our part in minimizing our environmental impact and in finding solutions to help maximize beneficial environmental outcomes within our business, communities, and the industries in which we operate.
True to our core purpose, helping those around us succeed, our business collaborates with our employees, clients, suppliers, and communities in pursuit of industry leading initiatives towards environmental sustainability.
True to our vision, universal solutions, unlimited possibilities, we actively seek continuous improvement, strategic solutions, and to thrive through revolutionary innovation, creating new possibilities for our company, industry and society in the future.