The Green Information Platform is a corporate social responsibility program which is pioneered by the companies belonging to the Koç Information Group and also includes Tanı and Zer.
Founded on September 24, 2008, the Platform aims to spread the environmental information to the wide segments of the society and operate with the target of converting the information into a consciousness throughout the society. Within the concept of the project, many diversified activities and events are organized. The Green Information Platform, as seen in its targets and content, is a “network of projects” which is comprised of countless projects and can create many diversified projects by the agency of its structure built on the collaborations developed either with the other business partner members of the Platform and many non-governmental organizations, or the private and public companies.
Member companies; Tanı and Zerbesides the Koç Information Group of companies comprising of Callus, KaTron, KoçSistem, Koç.net, Bilkom, Promena, Koç Information and Defense Technologies.
Implementations
Within the scope of the Green Information Platform, Koç Information Group conducts a series of implementations in order to create an environmental consciousness throughout the society but primarily in its own stakeholders. The necessary measures which will make the consumption throughout the Koç Information Group of companies, recyclable and environment friendly are taken; and the waste collected in the waste baskets placed in the campus and buildings are sent to the relevant institutions and organizations to be recycled or disposed of with a minimum damage to the environment. All of our employees have already signed the Green Information Constitution which defines our environmental sensitivity. As broadcasting the environmental information comes from the Green Information Platform on the screens of the computers within the Apple APRs across Turkey and on the thousands of paropods within the Paro branches across Turkey, the flow of environmental information and the consciousness-raising activities are maintained throughout Turkey.
www.yesilbilgi.org website hosts information, interviews, activities, up-to-date developments, and news about the environment. By means of the www.yesilbilgi.org, it’s targeted to share the information among the large masses, and help the large masses get into the habit of behaving sensitive in their each steps. www.yesilbilgi.org is organized by Koç Information Group in the light of the knowledge base of the non-governmental organizations which have already contributed to the environment with many invaluable studies and been intensively supporting this platform.
Projects And Activities
The first project of the platform, “What are the expectations of the Green Information Seeds from the World Water Forum?” was organized by the cooperation of DenizTemiz Association and Turmepa with the participation of 50 representative students in the Belgrad Forest on March 5, 2009. The importance of consciously water consumption was underlined with the declaration formed by the propositions offered by 2000 primary school students aged between 7 and 14 across Turkey which will protect the water resources before the 5th World Water Forum organized in İstanbul between March 16 and 22 of 2009. The declaration was also considered in the World Children Water Forum organized within the concept of 5th World Water Forum.
The second project of the Green Information Platform, targeting to draw attention to the subject of global warming, today’s greatest environmental issue, by the agency of the art, was organized on May 7, 2009. During the project the painting representing a bear leaving the world created by a 10-years old student called Sinan Barlas, was transformed into a giant canvas with an area of 6 square meters by the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Painting Department students. At the first stage, the painting exhibited in Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University for a month, then exhibited in Taksim Subway for a month and a half, afterwards it was exhibited in the reception named “Environment and the protection of environment” organized by British Consulate by the agency of Deniz Temiz Association / Turmepa on July 7.
The painting of a 10-years old Green Information Seed Sinan Barlas was rewarded with the grand prize in the painting contest with the theme of “Let’s change our habits not the climate” which was organized for the primary school students by the cooperation of the Green Information Platform, and DenizTemiz Association/Turmepa.
The aim of the project was to increase the environmental awareness and draw attention to the environmental issues this once with the art through the paintingof a 10-years old Green Information Seed which was then adapted into a giant canvas with an area of 6 square meters by the Green Information Ambassadors who were indeed the undergraduates of the Painting Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.
In the beginning of the summer season considering the World Environment Day on June 5, the Green Information Platform organized another project which aimed to increase the “awareness of the forest fires” and create “a public opinion against the forest fires” in Burgazada, on June 2, 2009. During the event accrued by the participation of the Turkey’s leading Non-Governmental Organizations including ÇEVKO, TEMA, DenizTemiz Association/TURMEPA, and WWF-Turkey, Mr. Ali Y. Koç, a Member of the Koç Holding’s Executive Board and the President of Corporate Communication and Information Group, has shared his message of “Let’s not allow the summer season to be the fire season for Turkey this year” with the audiences.
According to the statistical data, 81% of the forest fires in Turkey are occurred during the June-October period which is called as “Fire Season”. That’s why the Koç Information Group Green Information Platform aims to generalize the awareness about taking the required measures and increasing the sensitivity within the related corporations and the society by bringing forward the forest fires before a disaster happens.
In this respect an efficient collaboration is established with ÇEVKO, TEMA, DenizTemiz Association/TURMEPA, and WWF-Turkey on the same platform.A common document is constituted by the information received from these four invaluable Non-Governmental Organizations. The information about our common messages and the measures to be taken against the forest fires, were shared with public in an event titled with “Attention to the forest fires” in Burgazada on June 2, 2009.
Setting out with the mantra of “Before The Earth Takes It Back” in the parallel of World Environment Day and Environment Protection Week, the Green Information Platform has organized an environmental short movies contest in order to articulate the unlimited efforts to be done before the limited resources are depleted for a lively world with the striking language of cinema. Mainly from Elazığ, Tunceli, Samsun, Konya, Eskişehir, İzmit, Ankara, İzmir and İstanbul but from all over the regions of Turkey, more than 50 movies were attended to the contest which was designed to form a common language for all of the environment friends by the Platform.
The contest whose selection committee was comprised of jury members such as many opinion leaders occupying significant chairs in the diversified industries as well as the invaluable names ranging from the movie sector to the non-governmental organizations, was successfully completed on June 8, 2010.
The winner of the contest was a documentary movie with the title of “The Forgotten Heaven” which dealt with the change came up with the global warming in the Mecca Lake and the annihilated species with a striking language. The second winner of the contest was a fictional short movie with the title of “Memorization` which was casted by many celebrities besides Tolga Öztorun and depicted the oppressions of the animals exposed to tortures and killed by heart in their natural environment with a striking point of view. And the third winner of the contest was a fictional short movie with the title of “2084” which was revealing the issues and the inevitable war stemmed from the water scarcity happened to be in the future with exciting scenes.
The platform has achieved to deliver the message of “There are too many things to be done before the Earth Retracts” to more than 500,000 people through this contest.
Awards
The Green Information Platform was rewarded with the “Environmental Sensitivity Award” by the Congress Organization Committee and 60 Non-Governmental Organizations in the Turkey Journalists Association’s 2nd Global Warming Congress organized on May 7, 2009.
The Platform also picked the “Corporate Social Responsibility Award” which was given in the context of “Active ACADEMY Awards” at the 7th International Finance Summit on November 12, 2009.