The office is, very often, the first visible part of your company. There you can make your commitment towards sustainability visible to your team & colleagues, as well as to your visitors. A category easy to start with, with quick-wins to embark further your teams on your sustainability journey.
Measuring your office carbon footprint is a key step for a greener office. It is of high importance for an efficient environmental management: if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it!
It requires methodology and proper data collection: papers expenses, electronic equipments, electricity charges, office supplies...
For suggested sources of data and units of measure (paper, electronic, waste, energy...) refer to Pages 4 - 5 of the UK-based WRAP.org guide and Page 10 - 14 onwards of the Singapore NEA 3R Guidebook for Offices.
75%
of office waste is paper.
(Ademe Report - Sept. 2019)
20%
of office paper is recycled only vs 41% at home.
(Ademe Report - Sept. 2019)
Preliminary Note:
Steps to take:
1- Analyse your current comsumption and existing practices:
2- Define Targets and KPI evolution, such as:
3- Prefer:
4- Make it simpler:
5- Packaging : Discuss with your supplier to limit packagings, e.g. all pens in 1 carton box.
6- Involve all stakeholders in the sustainable purchasing policy and train them:
Refer to the global sustainable procurement policy in Resources section for more details.
58%
of businesses better mitigate risk with sustainable procurement, 30% achieve cost reduction.
(Ecovadis Barometer - 2019)
Browse categories of the Green Label Singapore Directory from Singapore Environment Council to find labelled products or ecolabel website to find all eco labels in Singapore.
Other resources:
- Ecovadis academy on sustainable procurement
- Sustainable procurement policy
- ISO 20400
Givvable is an automated data platform that helps organisations understand the sustainability profile of their suppliers and supply chain. It captures, tracks and reports on the credentials of suppliers, that are the strongest indicators of whether a supplier is taking action on sustainability. Givvable covers local to global and SME to MNC suppliers, ensuring it has the widest coverage of supplier sustainability data globally.
Givvable will help you:
- screen your existing suppliers and identify gaps for improvement
- vet new suppliers at RFP, onboarding or renewal
- find new suppliers via the givvable search platform
- build capability in your suppliers through learning tools, modules and badges
We help Brands quit plastic: TRULY sustainable packaging sourcing and consultancy
EcoVadis rates more than 100,000 businesses on their sustainability performance, which helps improve the sustainability performance of global supply chains.
STACS is a Singaporean ESG fintech firm partnering with the local Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to develop a ESG data registry, ESGpedia. Its version 2.0, launched in May 2023, has greater data coverage, enhanced solutions and analytics as well as assessment tools, to help financial institutions, corporates and SMEs achieve their decarbonisation and strategic sustainability goals.
The « green journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
Passionate about travels, Benoit left France in 2011 for Asia, lived in Hong Kong then landed in Singapore 6 years ago, working for Credit Agricole CIB. With 15 years of experience in IT across different sectors and industries, he is now managing a team focusing on IT application support. In 2017, he was one of the founders, and now the leader, of their first green team in Singapore.
Jing Ying is a marketer with over 10 years of experience. She is currently the Marketing Manager of Sleek, managing brand, comms and CSR for the tech startup. Sleek is a tech startup aimed at helping entrepreneurs set up their companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the UK with a fully digital experience. They have three pillars: tech for good, sustainability promise, and community initiatives.
She first co-founded and built a social enterprise, Soule, with two friends when she was 16, leading the branding, marketing and sales. The company's mission is to provide youth products with a social cause to empower children in Singapore, China and in disaster-hit areas. A total of 4,627 school shoes, footwear and other suppliers were given to schools and disaster relief sites over the past years. Soule also did CSR consulting for companies in Singapore and China. She worked in a mix of non-profit and agency roles before moving to Sleek.
A lawyer by training, Eliza has been in Private banking since 1996, with roles ranging from Relationship Management to Head of Strategy for PWM Latin America at Deutsche Bank New York, and a member of the Management Committee. Eliza was also the Business Manager and Head of Business Compliance for the International markets at Bank of Singapore, before joining Azqore as COO for Asia. Eliza has worked in Kuala Lumpur, Frankfurt, New York and Singapore and in addition lived in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, an experience that has shaped her outlook and made her very much a global citizen.
A banking operations professional, Loretta has had experience across various firms, like UBS and Nomura, before joining Credit Agricole 5 years ago. Currently Azqore’s Head of Asia Operations, she has worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and even had a short stint in India. These experiences have opened her eyes to various cultures and cuisines.
Both Eliza and Loretta kicked off the Azqore Asia CSR initiative in 2020 and have never looked back since.
With a background in sustainability consulting and audit, Ivona supports businesses in their sustainability journey by building an impactful strategy, embedding sustainable practices across operations, and reporting performance to stakeholders.
She is the founder of Sustainao, a Singapore-based company specialized in sustainability consulting. Previously, Ivona worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France. She holds an MBA in CSR & Sustainability and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Before joining Chanel, I was General Manager of BSI Singapore for 2.5 years. Prior to joining BSI, I held different job assignments for the international retailer Carrefour. For them, I oversaw Quality, Food Safety and Sustainability in China and then at the Group level.
I spent most of my career working in Asia: in Shanghai, Hong Kong and I have been happily settled in Singapore for 8 years now.
I have a real passion for sustainability and nature conservation and I love to share the knowledge and experience I gained in this field. I am also a volunteer for the Singaporean NGO called Climate Conversation which aims to raise awareness on climate change.
Package Pals is a circular packaging initiative that seeks to extend the life cycle of packaging. We collect used e-commerce packaging from members of the public, distributing it back to businesses seeking eco-friendly, second hand packaging options. There are 7 categories of packaging we collect: poly mailers (<A4),paper envelopes (<A4), plastic wrappers (<A4), bubble wrap, padded envelopes.
Package Pals has worked with multiple large and small businesses, schools, NGOs and governmental organisations since it was started in May 2020. Other than carrying out collection and distribution, we also focus on education and outreach, seeking to educate our 4k-strong audience on packaging waste and other environmental issues, through social media, webinars and other events.
I have been working in Asia for the past 12 years (Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore since 2014) within the digital and technology space.
I have founded and run several companies in different sectors such as IT Consulting, Education, and the F&B business.
I am passionate about how to use technology as a force for good.
Virgile is an academic researcher who works for the CNRS (France) and the National University of Singapore. He heads an international collaborative lab between Singapore and France at the mechanobiology institute.
He is also in charge of the transition towards more sustainable practices in the lab and in the institute. He has already implemented various actions covering energy efficiency, consumables usage reduction, waste management...
