Homelessness agency to cut carbon by 1/3 within three years
Monday 1 August 2011
For immediate release
HOMELESSNESS AGENCY TO CUT CARBON BY 1/3 WITHIN THREE YEARS
Melbourne-based housing and support agency HomeGround Services has unveiled its 2011-2014 Environmental Sustainability Strategy, which includes ambitious targets to reduce overall energy consumption, paper use, water use and waste.
The strategy also commits HomeGround to championing sustainable practices within the homelessness and housing sectors and to consider environmental impacts in its decision making for all housing development and service delivery programs.
Key commitments include:
- Reducing total carbon footprint by a third
- Reducing paper use by half
- Supporting service users to reduce household costs where possible
- Moving to lower emission vehicles and improved fleet management
- Considering the environmental practices of suppliers and contractors in procurement
- Annual auditing and public reporting on key areas
- Establishing a staff driven Environmental Sustainability Action Group tasked with implementing the strategy and monitoring outcomes
HomeGround Services CEO Stephen Nash said that cost of living pressures are growing for households on low incomes.
"The burden of increasing energy costs, food prices, transport and other day to day necessities always hits those on low incomes hardest. We are committed to supporting the people we work with to take advantage of the financial benefits of efficient practices.
"HomeGround believes in a fair and equitable community where we all have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. This also means taking care of the environment that sustains us. HomeGround recognises we can do more to cut back on wasteful practices and become a leaner and more efficient organisation.
"Congratulations to all of our staff who have demonstrated their passion and commitment to better environmental performance over many years. We hope others in our sector and right across the community will find a way to make their own contribution. A healthy environment is a shared responsibility."
Member of HomeGround's newly formed Environmental Sustainability Action Group, Louise Simms, said that environmental issues were important to staff at HomeGround.
"Most people here take environmental issues very seriously. We have a Bicycle Users Group, lots of effort goes into saving energy and we have smart bins at nearly all sites. With this strategy the message is very clear from management that they are behind us in improving the way we do things.
"There’s so much potential in any organisation to save money and do the environment a favour at the same time. Most of the time it’s the really simple things that, when put together, add up to meaningful change."
The executive summary is available at http://www.homeground.org.au/publication/environmental-sustainability-strategy-2011-2014-executive-summary-only
