NZers support economic incentives for environment

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2 May 2007

Media Release

New Zealanders support economic incentives to protect environment

Research conducted by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development shows that the majority of New Zealanders support policy reform which will help resolve our water, waste and energy challenges.

They also expect business to play their part in contributing to the broader public good.

Speaking at a Corporate Social Responsibility Conference in Sydney, Lyn Mayes said that the Business Council started calling for business and government to introduce sustainable procurement policies four years ago but we are only just seeing this sleeping giant being unleashed.

"The New Zealand Government has committed 34 core agencies to give preference to buying sustainable goods and services which could lead up to a third of the economy being redirected. This is what we have been asking for but in practical terms, brands which in the past have heeded the call and gained the Government backed Environmental Choice eco-label for their products are still finding that no weighting is given to environmental credentials in the tendering process. Decisions are still being made on day one price only, not the true whole-of-life cost.

"If you are prepared to spend around $50,000 to put the right label on your products and there is no discernable change in Government's selection process, business is right to ask 'why bother?'. Most businesses will need to achieve about $5 million in additional sales to recover these costs," Lyn Mayes said.

"Last week we invited paper merchants Spicers Paper and BJ Ball to advise procurement managers from the commercial and public sectors about their range of sustainable papers. There is now real choice in what is available including papers from sustainable forest plantations, recycled content and non tree papers. But the size of the market has to increase to make it economically viable and for this to happen the Government has to get behind its own Govt3 initiative to support sustainable papers. If the Department of Education were to stipulate that all new materials for schools have to be on an approved paper supply, just think how quickly we would see this happen?"

Mayes told the conference that Business Council members including Vodafone, Westpac, IAG, Accor Hotels and The Warehouse were among the leading New Zealand companies in introducing sustainable procurement criteria.

ENDS

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