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 Sustainability Policy
Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP) is committed to
promoting sustainability. Concern for the environment and promoting a
broader sustainability agenda are integral to CEP’s professional activities
and the management of the organisation. We aim to follow and to promote
good sustainability practice, to reduce the environmental impacts of all our
activities and to help our clients and partners to do the same.
To access the full version
of the policy click here.
Principles
Our
Sustainability Policy is based upon the following principles:
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To
comply with, and exceed where practicable, all applicable
legislation, regulations and codes of practice. |
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To
integrate sustainability considerations into all our business
decisions. |
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To
ensure that all staff are fully aware of our Sustainability Policy
and are committed to implementing and improving it. |
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To
minimise the impact on sustainability of all office and
transportation activities. |
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To make
clients and suppliers aware of our Sustainability Policy, and
encourage them to adopt sound sustainable management practices. |
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To
review, annually report, and to continually strive to improve our
sustainability performance. |
Practical
steps
In order to put
these principles into practice we will:
Travel and meetings
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Walk,
cycle and/or use public transport to attend meetings, site visits
etc, apart from in exceptional circumstances where the alternatives
are impractical and/or cost prohibitive. |
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Travel
to mainland Europe within a 1000km radius (excluding Scandinavia)
normally will be undertaken by train. |
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Include
the full costs of more sustainable forms of transport in our
financial proposals, rather than the least cost option which may
involve travelling by car or air. Where the only practical
alternative is to fly, we will include costs for full air fares
rather than budget airlines in our financial proposals, and
appropriate offsets. |
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Avoid
physically travelling to meetings etc where alternatives are
available and practical, such as using teleconferencing, video
conferencing or web cams, and efficient timing of meetings to avoid
multiple trips. These options are also often more time
efficient, while not sacrificing the benefits of regular contact
with clients and partners. |
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To
reduce the need to travel to meetings and elsewhere, and facilitate
regular client contact, we will provide a web cam to clients free of
charge for the duration of a project where appropriate. |
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Reduce
the need for our staff to travel by supporting alternative working
arrangements, including home working etc, and promote the use of
public transport by locating our offices in accessible locations. |
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Use an
emissions recording scheme for business travel to monitor our
impact. |
Purchase of equipment and consumption of resources
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Minimise our use of paper and other office consumables, for example
by double-siding all paper used, and identifying opportunities to
reduce waste. |
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As far
as possible arrange for the reuse or recycling of office waste,
including paper, computer supplies and redundant equipment.
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Reduce
the energy consumption of office equipment by purchasing energy
efficient equipment and good housekeeping. |
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Purchase electricity from a supplier committed to renewable energy.
Seek to maximise the proportion from renewable energy sources,
whilst also supporting investment in new renewable energy schemes.
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Ensure
that timber furniture, and any other timber products, are recycled
or from well-managed, sustainable sources and are Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) certified. |
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Purchase fair-trade and/or organic beverages. |
Working practices and advice to clients
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Undertake voluntary work with the local community and / or
environmental organisations and make donations to seek to offset
carbon emissions from our activities. |
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Ensure
that any associates that we employ take account of sustainability
issues in their advice to clients. |
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Include
a copy of our Sustainability Policy in all our proposals to clients. |
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Our
sustainability definition and ambition
We
endorse the spirit of the ‘Brundtland’ and ‘Caring for the
Earth’ definitions of sustainable development: 'development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs'’ and
'improving the quality of
life while living within the earth's carrying capacities’.
What
this means to us is that we operate our professional activities
and the management of our organisation in a way that enables all
people to realise their potential and improve their quality of
life while protecting and enhancing the earth’s natural capital.
This aspiration is
operationalised for our purposes by our sustainability
objectives, targets and indicators.
We
are therefore committed to continually improve the integration
of sustainability into our working environment and business
processes. Our aim is to
play a proactive role in contributing to achieving
sustainability where we have influence.
We are committed to accountability and transparency in
our sustainability performance.
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