Challenge for businesses to become sustainable

Thursday 24 February 2005:

Challenge for businesses to become sustainable

The third Environment Bay of Plenty Sustainable Business Challenge will be launched throughout the Bay of Plenty on March 3rd and 4th with events in Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatane. The awards, organised by the Sustainable Business Network (SBN), are like no other business awards – evaluating businesses on their progress through the sustainable economic, social and environmental progression.

SBN regional manager Calum Revfem explains that there are some exciting developments this year including the re-branding of the event to accurately reflect the ongoing nature of becoming a sustainable business. The awards are now called the Sustainable Business Challenge.

“Many businesses have grown tired of entering awards, so we’ve changed the event to make it easy for businesses to become more sustainable. It is free to enter, does not include the arduous task of completing an entry form and it compares businesses against their peers based on their current stage in the sustainability progression”.

What is the sustainability progression? After two iterations of the awards and working with hundreds of businesses SBN have realised a number of clearly defined stages that businesses go through to become more sustainable. From developing policies, through to undertaking actions and implementing systems, businesses progress in a relatively similar manner. Advanced businesses are at the stage where they monitor their sustainable performance and use this information to make decisions about changes in their systems and the way they operate. Entrants receive high quality feedback from a panel of expert judges with practical options for making progress.

The awards are supported by Environment Bay of Plenty, the major sponsor, as well as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Destination Rotorua District Council and Trust Power. Following the launch, nominations stay open until April 22.

ENDS

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