The first officially approved Green Office label has been awarded to the Auckland head office of fitness company Les Mills.
Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ), which operates the government-owned and endorsed label, says the licence is potentially a money-saver for businesses, but also motivates staff and customers to do more for the environment.
ECNZ's eco label general manager Robin Taylor said hundreds of products have been given the eco label but it is the first time an office has gained the green seal.
"There are a number of areas they have to comply with, which include simple things like double siding paper, through to cleaning contracts, the way they run their ICT programmes, fleet management, energy, waste..."
Environmental Choice appoints an independent third party assessor to measure the organisation's compliance with a list of criteria.
Mr Taylor says Les Mills believes strongly in sustainability, which plays a big part in the image it wants to portray, but other organisations see the green label as a valuable cost saver.
Rather than being "greenwashing", he says all the criteria are identifiable and measurable.
Mr Taylor says there are significant advantages and benefits to working environments run by sustainably minded companies.
"There's much better staff retention, there's less sick leave, there's happier staff - there are a number of these semi-intangibles which make people that are working in these environments much more comfortable."
