New Zealand’s 20 Greenest Companies Announced

Unlimited-Massey University Corporate Environmental Awards

21 November 2001

6pm, Wednesday 21 November 2001

New Zealand’s 20 Greenest Companies Announced

New Zealand’s most environmentally responsible companies were honoured last night at Parliament in the Unlimited-Massey University Corporate Environmental Awards.

Taking top prize was Watercare Services, Auckland’s waste and water utility. Second and third places went to Carter Holt Harvey and BP New Zealand.

The top 20 winners, almost all from the manufacturing and energy sectors, were selected from a major survey of environmental responsiveness by Massey University’s Centre for Business and Sustainable Development. The 2001 Report of the Survey and the Awards were launched at function by Palmerston North MP Steve Maharey, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton and Energy Minister Pete Hodgson.

“New Zealand's 'clean and green' international image is a major competitive advantage working in favouring of our exporters. The real value of this survey is that it identifies and showcases good envrionmental practice by New Zealand corporates. It provides real data on just how environmentally responsive New Zealand businesses are and levels a challenge to many to do better,” MP Steve Maharey said.

Why we did it

Measuring environmental management is becoming a high priority for companies. “More and more New Zealand businesses are taking the need to be environmentally responsible very seriously, and this Survey and the Awards are a way to measure their success,” says Delyse Springett, Director of the Centre for Business and Sustainable Development. “The Survey of Corporate Environmental Responsiveness has become New Zealand’s premier benchmarking tool for corporate environmental responsibility,”

While the survey is three years old, this is the first time companies have been ranked in the Unlimited-Massey University awards.

Unlimited is New Zealand’s leading business magazine.

“We’re very excited about the Survey and the Awards, as the move to triple-bottom line accounting (measuring financial, environmental and social performance) is increasingly seen as the future of business management. We want to reward companies at the fore front of this trend,” says Unlimited publisher Vincent Heeringa.

The Top 20

The 20 most environmentally responsible companies as measured by the Survey and honoured in the awards are:

1. Watercare Services
2. Carter Holt Harvey
3. BP New Zealand
4. Unilever New Zealand
5. Affco New Zealand
6. Sanford
7. Mobil Oil New Zealand
8. Fletcher Challenge Energy
9. Methanex
10. Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative
11. Kiwi Cooperative Dairies
12. New Zealand Dairy Board
13. UnitedNetworks
14. The Warehouse
15. Shell New Zealand
16. Coca-Cola Amatil (NZ)
17. British American Tobacco (NZ)
18. Auckland International Airport
19. TrustPower
20. Orica Chemnet

How they are chosen

The survey is a self-assessment based upon international standard criteria.

Criteria for rankings are based on how responsive to environmental concerns the companies are. They include:

- Whether a company has a board member with specific responsibility for environmental concerns
- Written environmental objectives, management and auditing systems
- Management procedures for dealing with suppliers.

For a complete rundown on the results, see Unlimited magazine (out Monday 19 November).

ENDS

More information:

For information on the Survey, or for a full copy of the Survey report, contact:
Delyse Springett
Centre for Business and Sustainable Development
Massey University
06 3505961

For information on Unlimited magazine and their involvement in the Survey, contact:

Vincent Heeringa
Unlimited
09 302 8759

Unlimited-Massey University Corporate Environmental Awards

21 November 2001

6pm, Wednesday 21 November 2001

Corporate Environmental Responsiveness Awards help participants improve performance.

The Corporate Environmental Responsiveness survey was demonstrating its use to companies, by forcing them to constantly improve they way they operate, to ensure they made the cut in the survey, according to Delyse Springett, Director of the Centre for Business and Sustainable Development at Massey University said.

“The feedback from companies on the usefulness of the Survey in their organisational planning demonstrates that proactive companies in New Zealand are set to continuously improve their performance, and are eager to benchmark their companies against the best in New Zealand,” Ms Springett says.

“The Survey measures the level of strategic planning that goes into company performance on ten key parameters of environmental management, and forms the foundation of the Centre’s broader programme of research into business and sustainable development.”

The Survey is based on the UK Index of Corporate Environmental Engagement, run with the FTSE companies and the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index companies.

“The levels of participation from service sectors and their scores overall tend to be much lower, with some refusing to participate and strongly denying that they have a responsibility in this area, beyond what I call “green housekeeping’,” Ms Springett says.

“That remains an area for future development. However, the Survey gains strong industry support from the majority of companies, and fourteen companies have formed a Core Leadership Group to support the Survey and to participate in the broader research programme of the Centre, focusing upon sustainable development.

“Chief Executives of the Core Group companies, commenting in the Report, point out the usefulness to them of the Survey in their strategic planning, as well as the value-added they gain from the workshops run by staff of the Centre. In addition, government and other organisations are using the benchmarks in their own policy-making and planning,” Ms Springett said.

ENDS

More information:
For information on the Survey, or for a full copy of the Survey report, contact:
Delyse Springett
Centre for Business and Sustainable Development
Massey University
06 3505961

For information on Unlimited magazine and their involvement in the Survey, contact:
Vincent Heeringa
Unlimited
09 302 8759

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