Environmental Sustainability Policy

1. Purpose

To describe hangel's environmental impact honestly and explain what we do today to reduce it and what we have not done yet.

2. Scope

The International Social Benefit Association's activities; the cloud infrastructure and software of the hangel platform; events organised by the Association (details in the Sustainable Events Policy).

3. Principles

1. Digital first. We use digital documents, tickets and certificates instead of printed ones.
2. No unnecessary processing. We reduce unused data and unnecessary server work.
3. No claims without measurement. We do not claim to be "carbon neutral", "green" or similar without measuring our footprint.
4. Making environmental volunteering visible. We make environmental events and volunteering easy to find.

4. Roles and responsibilities

• Board of Directors: approves this policy and reviews it annually.
• Technical lead: considers resource efficiency in infrastructure choices.
• Event organisers (the Association): apply the Sustainable Events Policy.

5. How it works at hangel today

• Digital documents: Event and volunteering certificates are generated digitally and verified by QR code and certificate code; they can be added to Apple and Google wallets. Tickets and entry check-in use QR codes.
• Online meetings: Events can be held online through Oda meeting rooms and Google Meet links, which removes the need to travel.
• Data clean-up: Old notifications and unused notification tokens are deleted automatically after 12 months and audit logs after 2 years; the data of deleted accounts is removed.
• Cloud infrastructure: We have no server room of our own; the infrastructure runs on Google Cloud/Firebase.
• Event categories: Events are mapped to the UN Sustainable Development Goals; environmental events (for example the World Cleanup Day page) can be featured.
• Organisation reports: Brands can export employee volunteering data structured under the disclosure headings of sustainability reporting frameworks. These documents are not audited or approved and are not presented as such.

6. Not yet in place and our goals

• We have not measured our carbon footprint (Scopes 1, 2 and 3). Our goal is a first estimate using the cloud provider's carbon report and the Association's travel and event data.
• No reduction target or timeline has been set; we will not give figures before measuring.
• We do not buy carbon offsets.
• Environmental criteria for choosing suppliers are not written down.

7. How to raise a concern

Suggestions and questions: info@hangel.org

8. Review

At least once a year; once the first measurement is done, targets will be added to this policy.

9. Related documents

Sustainable Events Policy · Supplier and Third-Party Policy · Existing "Environmental Responsibility and Sustainability Policy" and "Environmental and Social Safeguards Policy"