SEB, Swedbank, airBaltic, RISEBA and Cognizant - most sustainable companies

Five AmCham members have been recognized by the Sustainability Index 2021: SEB bank and Swedbank achieved Platinum, airBaltic and RISEBA – Silver and Cognizant – Bronze. SEB bank received one of the highest sustainability ratings for the 5th year in a row and Swedbank Latvia the historically highest score in the Index. The Institute for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility has been evaluating corporate sustainability and responsibility of companies in Latvia for 12 years. Read more

New Corporate Governance Code released

The Corporate Governance Advisory Board has launched a Corporate Governance Code promoting the long-term growth of the company's value, effective governance and transparency. New series of discussions to promote corporate governance principles were introduced this spring by the Finance and Capital Market Commission, the Ministry of Justice and Nasdaq Riga.  Read more

Delna launches report on anti money laundering in Latvia and the Baltics

Transparency International Latvia/Delna has published a new report which provides a bird-eye view of the main features of the complex money laundering schemes carried out through Latvian and other Baltic banks, while assessing governments’ efforts to prevent the occurrence of similar schemes in the future and evaluating the ongoing risks linked to the abuse of shell companies, the exploitation of corporate services, and the emergence of the e-money and digital payment industry. Read more

airBaltic first to implement sustainable flight approaches

As of August 12th, airBaltic has become first to fly the new Required Navigation Performance with Authorization Required (RNP AR) high-precision flight approaches at Riga Airport with the company’s modern Airbus A220-300 aircraft fleet. These procedures enable more efficient arrival routes and contribute to saving fuel, further cutting CO2 and noise emissions. Read more

Swedbank releases handbook on sustainability

Swedbank together with experts in various fields has created a digital handbook for entrepreneurs “Step-by-step towards sustainability”, which helps to understand the concept of sustainable business and the various aspects of sustainability. It includes short and precise information that every entrepreneur needs to know about sustainability issues.  Read more

Latvijas Finieris invests €1 mln in betulin production technologies

Latvijas Finieris has invested more than 1 million euros in the industrial-level experimental laboratory for the extraction of betulin from birch bark, which is built in the premises of the Chemical Products Factory in Riga. The goal of the project is to develop technology for the production of different quality bark and betulin that can be utilized in the food, cosmetics and even medical industries. Read more

Luminor joins the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials

Luminor is the first financial institution in Baltics to join the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials and implement the PCAF greenhouse gas accounting standard for the bank's portfolio of loans and investments. Currently, more than 140 banks and investors have subscribed to the PCAF initiative to jointly develop the Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry to measure and disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of their loans and investments. Read more

EY makes a positive impact

EY has supported numerous projects during 2021 in three main areas: supporting the next generation workforce, working with impact entrepreneurs and accelerating environmental sustainability. EY worked together with foundations "Mārtiņa  Fonds" and "Vītolu Fonds", "Iespējamā misija", the Association Nāc līdzās! and our member SOS Children's Villages to make the world a better place. Read more

Treating children with cancer

AmCham members MikroTik and  Smartomica both are contributing to the Latvian Paediatric Cancer Initiative which is dedicated to searching for a personalized approach to treating children who are battling cancer. Thanks to this initiative more than 100 cancer patients have been involved in the initiative so far and the number is growing. As a result, any pediatric cancer patient in Latvia now has an opportunity to receive genetic sequencing free of charge. Read more

Promoting IT & STEM sector among schoolchildren

One of the IT Education Foundation’s founders Accenture Latvia together with RTU and MAK IT is continuously promoting the IT and STEM sector among schoolchildren. Start(IT) website is visited by 60,000 users each year and 100 of teachers have been trained over a number of years. Accenture has supported IT Education Foundation projects for many years by donating €677,000 so far. Read more

Saving peoples lives by donating blood

On August 11, Dynatech hosted a public Blood Donation Event with the help of the State Blood Donor Center at their office. Their employees with their guests and friends were welcome to join it. In total 38 employees together with guests donated their blood during the day. Since 2016, the team of Dynatech together with their friends have donated 51 liters of blood to those who need it most.  Read more

RMHC Latvija needs a chasing car

RMHC Latvija (Care Mobile) is looking for your support! The organization needs a chasing car for daily use to take doctors to children near their homes in Latvia's rural areas and to provide consultations in the Care Mobile. This year the Care Mobile has already made 65 visits and doctors have provided 2637 medical consultations to little patients in various parts of Latvia. Read more

Helping children from foster families

The Latvian Foster Family Association, who takes regular care of more than 201 families raising 356 children in different regions of Latvia, is organizing a charity campaign "School children must go to school" to help first graders to prepare for their first school year. The Association is also looking for donations to organize a trip to a museum or facilitate an outdoor activity for foster families during this autumn. Read more

EBRD donation campaign for SOS Children's Villages

The Community Initiative of EBRD has chosen the SOS Children's Villages Latvia as an organization whose donations received by November 3, 2021 will be doubled to support 3 main projects of SOS Children's Villages Latvia. For every euro donated, the EBRD Community Initiative will add one more euro, for every 10 euros another 10 euros and for every 100 euros - 100 euros to the donation. Read more

Supporting women diagnosed with breast cancer

During 2021 the Pink Train Foundation has continued to provide support for women in Latvia diagnosed with breast cancer by organzing a new breast health awareness campaign with stand-up comedienne Džemma Sudraba and inviting women to "celebrate March 8 every month". The Foundation's only income is through donations and all donations big or small will be greatly appreciated so that it can continue its mission of raising support and awareness. Read more

Sonar equipment needed to find missing people

BEZVESTS.LV, the only volunteer organization providing missing persons, has organized around 64 search operations this year, and are looking to do some more. To conduct special search operations, BEZVESTS.LV needs a special underwater sonar equipment that would help find human remains in water. The sonar equipment successfully used in previous underwater search operations is not always available, therefore either in-kind or financial support to obtain this much needed equipment will be appreciated. Read more