What does it take to boost a company’s green cred?
By Kate Lunau - Friday, April 27, 2012 - 0 Comments
Worms under desks, sustainable potlucks and loans for bikes, for starters
Photograph by Brian Howell
Wade Janzen has a worm composter under his desk. Most employers might discourage vermicomposting at the office, but the Vancouver Aquarium is an exception. “I learned how to make a compost [in a workshop] on my lunch hour,” says Janzen, 30, the aquarium’s coordinator of curriculum. He plans to give away the worms (which process organic waste into fertilizer) to teachers as an outreach project in local schools. “It’s really nice working here, where we’re supported in our efforts to live sustainably,” he says.
The Vancouver Aquarium is one of this year’s “Green 30”—organizations whose employees are most positive about their record of environmental stewardship, according to Aon Hewitt. The global consulting and outsourcing firm surveyed more than 112,000 employees in Canada, asking them about their employers’ commitment to the environment. Among the 30 that came out on top—including the Vancouver Aquarium, Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, Mountain Equipment Co-op, and Nexen Inc., an oil and gas company—82 per cent of employees have a positive perception of their employers’ eco-friendly initiatives, the survey found.
The Green 30 list provides an “inside view” into a company’s practices, since it shows how its own employees view it, says Aon Hewitt partner Neil Crawford, leader of the Best Employers in Canada study. Green initiatives not only help attract and engage workers; they’re appealing to the public, too. “It’s good business to say you’re socially and environmentally responsible,” says Crawford. For companies at the top of the list, expectations around being green are set high.
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A greener future
By Kate Lunau and Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 4:00 PM - 1 Comment
Top companies, like those on Aon Hewitt’s 2011 Green 30 list, lead the way when it comes to making the environment a big part of business
Will Pryce; Atelier CMJN
Having an environmental edge goes a long way with employees. Surveys show that people expect their organizations to take the environment into account when making business decisions—and most don’t feel enough is being done. Top companies, however, are responding by going green in every way, from making their manufacturing processes more efficient to backing local and global sustainability projects. The following pages feature some of the ways the companies on Aon Hewitt’s 2011 Green 30 list have made the environment a big part of business. But first, here’s a look at some environmentally friendly ideas that could revolutionize the workplace in the not-so-distant future.
Skyscrapers made of wood?
The construction and management of buildings around the world accounts for more than 30 per cent of climate change, according to Michael Green, founding principal at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design Inc. While some predict everyone will be working from home in the future, others say greater levels of urbanization will bring us closer to the workplace than ever. So it’s no wonder billions of dollars are being poured into making sustainable offices—and the greener, the better. Some of the concepts are outlandish: the winner of eVolo’s recent Skyscraper Competition, for example, looks like a giant Ferris wheel made from recycled cars, and filters air through a series of greenhouses as it spins. Green, who’s based in Vancouver, has a more practical idea. Instead of building skyscrapers from steel and concrete, he says, its time to start making them out of wood.
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Canada's greenest employers
By Kate Lunau and Stephanie Findlay - Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:05 AM - 4 Comments
The Green 30 is based on how employees perceive their employer’s environmental efforts
Photography by Andrew Tolson
The Green 30 is based on how employees perceive their employer’s environmental efforts. We asked each organization that made the 2011 list, compiled by Aon Hewitt, to highlight some of the key programs and practices that they think earned them high marks. Here are some of the highlights:
Baxter Corporation
Medical products and services, Mississauga, Ont.• Has published an annual Global Sustainability Report, measuring the company’s progress on nine sustainability priorities, including reductions in its carbon footprint and a green supply chain, since 1999.
• Less reliant on natural resources by reclaiming cooling water from its manufacturing process; decreases energy use through gas and electricity reduction efforts.
• Since 2002, the facility in Alliston, Ont., has diverted more than 1.7 million lb. of packaging from landfills, and recycles more than 90 per cent of non-hazardous waste.
