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DNV has entered into a formal cooperation agreement with wildlife conservation organisation WWF Norway.

The cooperation agreement means that WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) will receive funding for its wildlife conservation work. DNV, on its part, says it gains a partner that can contribute to sustainable development through 'constructive dialogue and common projects'. The deal has a framework of NOK 4.2 million (US$ 730,000) over a three-year period.

Commenting on the news, DNV said: "This agreement has a strategic and innovative focus, in which four areas that are important to both parties are key: sustainable shipping, a low-carbon society, the Arctic and assurance and sustainability standards.

“With this agreement, we are entering a partnership that we strongly believe will interest, challenge and inspire the employees of both organisations. We look forward to cooperating with WWF on issues that are important to us,” said Henrik O. Madsen, DNV Group CEO.

“The cooperation agreement is mainly based on DNV’s activities in Norway, but we see that it will be natural to draw on our global network for several projects. We have observed with great interest that WWF has a scientific and fact-based approach to the issues they work on, and we look forward to working with them on a wide range of projects. It is very likely that we may completely or partly professionally disagree on some issues, but we all need to be challenged by people with different views. I regard this perspective as a positive effect of our cooperation,” added Madsen.

Another benefit of the agreement, according to Mr Madsen, is that it allows participation in major global events arranged by WWF. An example of such an event is the annual Earth Hour campaign, where people around the world simultaneously switch off their lights for one hour.

Secretary-general of WWF Norway, Nina Jensen, said that DNV had been on WWF’s list of desirable partners for a long time.

“DNV is an important international player in the field of sustainable development. We have great expectations for this cooperation agreement. The company’s employees and service portfolio represent a wonderful starting point for achieving real results relating to sustainability and the environment.

“We realise that, in the short term, it may be difficult to achieve a global agreement to limit climate change. For this reason, it is even more important to focus on project-based cooperation between NGOs and industry in order to create future-oriented solutions. In this perspective, the projects we will define and carry out together with DNV may help to set a standard for how we can help to limit climate change,” said Jensen.