August 2009
Calculate your Carbon Footprint
Knowing how to calulate your Carbon Footprint is a complex business, and can be an expensive one too for a certified calculation. However, the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Business have developed a calculator on their website to enable small businesses to calculate their Carbon Emissions for voluntary reporting. This calculator follows the structure recommended by the Ministry for Environment. It should be used in conjunction with NZBCSD's How-To Guide, and the Ministry for Environments Guidance for Voluntary Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting. For further information click here...
May 2009
Market Price for Carbon
Under the Greenprint programme, Carbon Offsets will be paid according to the current price per tonne on the European Carbon Exchange. We will update this price quarterly. The current price can be found under the Resources page here...
May 2009
Wellington Young Professionals Green Gala a Success
The Wellington Young Professionals’ Green Gala was held last month at Te Papa. 200 young Wellington professionals joined together in a black tie evening dedicated to sustainability. Guests enjoyed drinks, food, live music and give aways with festivities carrying on into the early hours at the official after party at RedSquare on Blair Street.
The evening was conducted no different from any other black tie occasion except that every effort was made to ensure the night was sustainable as possible. Only local suppliers were hired for the event and part of ticket sales were invested into an offset programme through the Sustainable Capital Company.
With the success of the event, the Green Gala is set to become an annual flagship event for the Wellington Young Professionals and plans are already underway for next year. For more information on the Wellington Young Professionals and/or the Green Gala check out their website: www.wyp.co.nz
April 2009
New Resources Available to Help your Business
Check out out Resources page for new resources that have recently been added to help your business run more efficiently. These include Guides to Sustainability for water based and land based tourism activities, how to manage visitor attractions, and how to run accommodation businesses sustainably. Also added is a report by LEK Consulting on Carbon Footprinting, and the ISO 14001 Standard on Environment. More resources will be added, so keep checking. Click here...
April 2009
Treemission Trust Gains Charitable Trust Status
Greenprints Treemission Trust, the trust that collects carbon offset payments and invests them in community projects, has officially been registered as a Charitable Trust. The purpose of setting up the Treemission Trust is to ensure that the payments made to offset your carbon emissionsis ringfenced and will only be used for offsetting. Treemission Tust will use the offset payments to fund community-based activity that will achieve bio-diverity and natice regeneration on the Wellington Region. This could be trees planted in community facilities - in your LOCAL school, park or reserve. That way you are helping your company and your local community. Click here to view the Trust Certificate...
March 2009
Companies Need Green Directors
Businesses must change their attitude to environmental issues if the tide of ecological decline is to be halted. This article was published on the BBC Website in October last year. Click here...
February 2009
Where are the jobs going to come from?
The Right Honourable Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enteprise and Regulatory Reform in the British Government speaks to the Jobs Summit, London 2009. Click here...
January 2009
Hospitality Business Goes Green with Greenprint
Puatahanui five star boutique accommodation and corporate hosting business Villa Margarita has signed up for Greenprint. With Qualmark integrating criteria on responsible tourism into their star rating assessments, joining a specific programme to address this became imperative for Villa Margarita. "We looked at other programmes, but they were more expensive and invested money anywhere but Wellington. With Greenprint, the cost of entry is low, they have helped us to understand what we can do and the steps that we can take to develop realistic strategies for minimising our environmental impact" says Villa Margarita Director Mark Owen. Greenprint enabled them to recognise the the actions they were already taking, and more importantly to provide a means for them to offset their emissions in community projects in Wellington. "It allows us to be responsible and give back to the Wellington region. We love that as the region provides the backdrop to our business."
Check out their website: www.villamargarita.co.nz
January 2009
Piano Shop Joins Greenprint
Pimmerton based piano sales and services company, the Piano Shop has become one of the first businesses to join Greenprint. Opened in 2001, the Piano Shop provides a comprehensive sales and service facility for new and pre-loved Pianos. The Piano Shop was actually the business that proposed to the Porirua Chamber that it should investigate local offset planting. As a business that accesses products from around the world, and providing services all over New Zealand, they were conscious of the need to balance their environmental impact. Greenprint has provided them with the answer to that. LinkClick.aspx.
For further information on the Piano Shop click here www.pianoshop.co.nz.
December 2008
Membership Opens with Traffic Design Group Pointing the Way
Traffic Design Group are a national organisation specialising in traffic engineering and transportation planning services. With offices across the country, it was their Lower Hutt branch which saw the Greenprint flyer in the regional business magazine, In Business. "A key part of our work is making sure that traffic is managed in an environmentally sensitive way with associated reductions in its long term impact on the environment. We are also conscious of the need to balance our own environmental impact. Joining Greenprint was an easy decision. We have signed up both as a member business in order to reduce our own footprint, and also as a service provider, to advise other businesses on reducing their travel and transport emissions." TDG Director and Wellington Region Branch Manager Mark Georgeson. TDG also recognise the importance of their decision to offset locally, and this aspect of Greenprint was one of the most appealing.
For further information on Traffic Design Group and its work, click here www.tdg.co.nz