BECOMING carbon neutral has transformed staff behaviour at an East Tamaki firm.
It took six months of system changes and scrutiny for Oceania Printing Technologies to navigate Landcare Research's carboNZero programme.
"Initially getting certified can be very time-consuming," says managing director Pradeep Narayan.
"But once you achieve that you look back and think: `What a wonderful thing we did'.
"The awareness it creates in your business and customers has a huge flow-on effect."
The company distributes Ricoh photocopiers and printers throughout New Zealand and the South Pacific.
And to achieve carbon-neutral certification staff had to formally demonstrate how they're reducing greenhouse gas emissions during everyday business activities.
Landcare Research calculated their emissions at 26.96 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.
But they won't know by how much that's dropped until the follow-up measurement in a year's time.
The company has committed to reducing fuel and electricity use by at least 5 percent. They'll also endeavour to join a carbon-neutral electricity provider.
Any unavoidable emissions are offset by purchasing carbon credits from a Trustpower wind farm in Wellington.
Emissions caused by consumer use of products are also voluntarily offset by Ricoh New Zealand, another carbon-neutral company.
Mr Narayan says the initiative is about competitiveness as much as caring for the environment.
"Clients want to deal with companies that care for the environment," the Howick resident says.
"Not many do. It's definitely an image of the company that we want to portray.
"The benefits to the business are that the staff are more aware of environmental issues such as fuel usage and also office processes such as recycling."
Each month the company submits records of their fuel, electricity, machine and freight use to Landcare Research.
Mr Narayan says now that carbon output is an identifiable cost the company is proactively searching for efficiencies.
"Why use a big car when you can use a little car? It's about being conscious of the environmental impact and limiting that as much as we can."
Despite the challenge of the process Mr Narayan recommends other businesses take up Landcare Research's CarboNZero programme.
The Crown Research Institute has so far certified 278 organisations, products and services as carbon neutral, 21 of which are Auckland-based.
Their client numbers are also increasing, partly due to becoming the world's first internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification scheme under the International Accreditation Forum.
Spokeswoman Kathryn Hailes says it means certified organisations can report their carbon footprint with confidence and credibility because it's been verified against a global standard.For information call 0800-269-376 or visit carbonzero.co.nz.
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