Two UBC departments — Geography and Supply Management — have completed the first stage of the Sustainable Office Certification pilot program, which aims to improve green practices in offices across campus.
“Some of it is as simple as turning off the lights when you leave a room,” says Vicky Baker, a project coordinator in the Geography department who volunteered to implement the Sustainable Office Certification process for her department.
“Such actions lead to other conversations and get staff involved — can we have paperless meetings, what do we do with milk containers, that kind of thing. It gets people thinking about their behaviour; it’s a mind shift that takes a while.”
“The pilot program had several benefits,” says Paula Goldspink, Category Management & Sustainability Program, another volunteer who implemented the certification in UBC Supply Management says. “I was first able to win the buy-in from our director, and then got the entire department involved. Our staff learned about many campus sustainability initiatives they were not aware of. Participating in this pilot program as a team will greatly help my efforts as the department’s Sustainability Coordinator.”
The Sustainable Office Certification pilot program asked two departments — Geography and Supply Management — to assess their offices’ current sustainability practices and then implement new procedures to improve them, explain Kara McDougall and Anke Sieb, who instigated the pilot program as co-managers of the UBC Sustainability Coordinator Program. Both departments succeeded in being certified at the first stage of workplace sustainability, Level 1.
Making Sustainability the Norm in the Workplace
The pilot program aims to recognize and celebrate the efforts various units across campus are taking to contribute to UBC’s sustainability aspirations. The tool can also be used to help units identify new sustainability practices and set goals and actions to make sustainability the norm in the workplace.
“We chose to do a certification pilot to test if this type of program could foster higher levels of department commitment and buy-in to sustainable choices in the workplace as well as foster change in workplace practices,” explains Sieb. “There are many excellent office certification programs in the United States at comparable institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and UC-Berkeley, and we were interested to explore if this could be adapted at UBC.”
To receiving Level 1 certification, the departments had to implement every action on a checklist, and at least 75% of employees — including the department head or director — had to publicly commit to supporting the actions. Level 1 actions are considered to be low-hanging fruit; most are free or low-cost and simple to implement. They include communications, engagement and social sustainability policies; energy conservation and zero waste strategies; sustainable purchasing practices; green events; and sustainable transportation policies.
Turning Off the Lights
“It helped to clarify lot of myths,” adds Baker. “Like, is it really more efficient to turn off the lights every time you leave a room? We got the statistics, and yes, it is! We hope it spreads out; when professors come to teach, we hope they take these habits away with them. In the big scheme of things, it’s little steps that we can all take.”
Now that the two departments have completed the first stage of the pilot program, McDougall and Sieb, are preparing a final report analyzing its successes, areas for improvement and opportunities.
“If it’s deemed a success — and all indications are that it will be — we will offer recommendations for moving the initiative forward,” says McDougall.
“We see an office certification program as a great way to publicly recognize and celebrate the efforts units are already taking to contribute to UBC’s sustainability aspirations. It could also be used to help units identify and implement new practices to make sustainability the norm in the workplace.”