Sunshine Coast based consultancy, Applied Environment and Safety, has been an ecoBiz 3-Star Partner since 2020. The business believes in promoting environmental sustainability and leading by example. For example, with all their staff working from home, they have implemented a wide range of sustainable business practices to reduce energy and water use and waste in their home offices or client locations. The result is a remarkable 61% reduction in their energy intensity.
“We are seeing more and more that tender opportunities require businesses to demonstrate their sustainability credentials…”
Applied Environment & Safety provides practical environmental and safety consulting services across a wide range of projects adding value and improving outcomes for their clients. The industries they support include power and transmission, renewable energy, and transport and roads projects.
The consultancy has utilised the free ecoBiz program as one of the ways to improve their business sustainability. They’ve discovered that ecoBiz is great stepping stone for small businesses that are interested in their business sustainability.
An ecoBiz coach is a great game plan
Like all businesses joining the ecoBiz program, Applied Environment & Safety were assigned a dedicated ecoBiz coach to help them develop their own sustainability plan.
Melanie Dixon, Director and Principal Consultant noted, “We are seeing more and more that tender opportunities require businesses to demonstrate their sustainability credentials, so developing a sustainability plan with our ecoBiz coach has proven extremely valuable.”
In addition to a sustainability plan, an important consideration is accountability. Ensuring your business can measure and track your sustainability initiatives and performance is critical. Applied Environment & Safety has invested in strategic programs to support their sustainability journey, including undertaking the ecoBiz program and obtaining carbon neutral accreditation.
Sustaining a team effort
The consultancy doesn’t need to advertise employment positions as interested people approach them. Melanie adds, “My team demonstrate their value everyday which attracts passionate people who share the same values for business sustainability. Sustainability makes business sense!” Joining ecoBiz has encouraged behavioural change amongst the staff with the team involved in a number of volunteer programs. These include Take 3 For the Sea, a global initiative focusing on reducing the amount of plastics in our oceans.
Melanie sums up the consultancy’s sustainability philosophy perfectly, “We really believe that every person and every business can make a difference. You don’t need to be a big organisation or spend a lot of money. There are sustainable options, sustainable choices for everyone and every business.”
