The Business Case for Sustainability

Being more sustainable will help a business become more efficient, cut operational costs, provide a platform for innovation and managing risk, improve brand value and reputation making the business more attractive to customers/clients and help attract and retain staff. Environmentally conscious businesses also tend to achieve a better bottom-line.

Ways to become more sustainable and where to go for help

Cutting down your energy consumption is one of the easiest ways to save money and reduce your environmental impact. From simple solutions such as turning off lights, making recycling easy and printing less, to more substantial initiatives such as alternative fuel systems, renewable energy sources and building a sustainable supply chain, there are organisations and resources available to assist.

� EECA Business: information and resources for saving energy and reducing energy costs eecabusiness.govt.nz

� Sustainable Business Commission: six steps to develop a sustainable supply chain sbcvaluechain.org.nz

� Sustainable Business Network: sustainability tools, resources and initiatives sustainable.org.nz

Environmental certifications and labels

If your business has actively adopted environmentally friendly practices, there’s value in applying for certification or an ecolabel.

Enviro-Mark Solutions, a subsidiary of the crown research institute Landcare Research, provides three types of environmental programmes and certifications.

• Carbon programmes and certification – for businesses committed to reducing their greenhouse gas footprint.

• Environmental management programme and certification – for businesses with a planned approach to reducing their environmental impact.

• Energy programme and certification – for businesses systematically working to become more energy efficient.

� enviro-mark.com

Environmental Choice is New Zealand’s official ecolabel, a sign or seal used to indicate that a product has met certain environmental or social standards.

� environmentalchoice.org.nz

Climate action: 10 tips for reducing emissions

It can be hard to know where to start to reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially for small businesses, so the Climate Leaders Coalition has provided a list and examples of practical things that businesses can start doing.

1. The first tip is to start somewhere! Map your carbon footprint using one of the available tools to work out where you can make reductions.

2. Convert your company cars to electric vehicles.

3. Reduce air travel by using video-conferencing and flexible working arrangements and offsetting unavoidable air travel.

4. Tackle transportation of goods by improving the utilisation of shipping containers and trucks, and by using hybrid or electric vehicles and rail where possible.

5. Divert waste from landfill into recycling and composting.

6. Tackle your supply chain with procurement expectations.

7. Switch your lighting to LEDs and using natural light.

8. Reduce your premises’ power consumption with energy efficient refrigerants and systems.

9. Partner with suppliers and like-minded businesses to find low carbon solutions.

10. See it as an opportunity!

� For more info and case studies: climateleaderscoalition. org.nz/action