New Zealand’s most sustainable businesses

Beca and Soar Printing have been named as New Zealand’s most sustainable businesses at the Sustainable 60 Awards, run by Fairfax Media Business Group and PwC, in Auckland on 30 November.

Beca, Soar Printing, Auckland Airport, Ziptrek Ecotours, Bank of New Zealand, Meridian Energy and Anguillid Consulting Engineers and Scientists took the top placings.

Overall Large Business category winner, Beca, designs environmentally sustainable buildings and wanted to practice what it preached by retrofitting its own premises.

“Beca took Aorangi House, the worst performing building in Wellington, and turned it into a five-green-star building. Succession and sustainability go hand in hand and we applaud Beca’s employee shareholder model as a strong way to address this,” said the judges.

Overall Medium Business category winner Soar Printing has been operating for nearly 100 years.

“Sustainability is in their blood; how they have integrated it across the business should be adopted, and admired, as best practice in New Zealand,” said the judges.

Auckland Airport took out the Strategy and Governance category and a special commendation for being a finalist in all five categories including workplace, marketplace, community and environment. The judges were impressed with how the airport integrated sustainability into its overall, long-term strategy.

“Auckland Airport is a really complex businesses and we’re impressed with how it communicates with stakeholders and how engaged the board and management team are,” said the judges.

PwC partner and judge Julia Hoare says the calibre of the entries was outstanding.

“This year’s finalists recognise that to be in business for the long haul, business as usual is not an option. They demonstrated they are leading the transformational changes required to position their organisations for long-term success.”

Businesses looking to get involved with Sustainable 60 are invited to attend sustainable business workshops, starting early 2012. The award winners will present their sustainable journey at the workshops to promote the business benefits.