Get the latest delivered to your inbox
Privacy Policy

Now Reading

Jacques Whitford completes first ever Corporate Sustainability Report

Jacques Whitford completes first ever Corporate Sustainability Report

Published 12-23-08

Submitted by Jacques Whitford

SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK. "“ December 23, 2008 "“ To mark the end of a very successful and sustainably focused year, Jacques Whitford Ltd., a leading provider of engineering, sustainability, environmental and earth sciences solutions, announced today the completion of the company's first ever corporate sustainability report.

"This report is a result of the combined efforts and dedication of many groups and individuals at Jacques Whitford; particularly the meticulous work of our sustainability group and the visual expertise of our marketing team," says Marty Janowitz, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Jacques Whitford. "The report itself reflects our priority commitment to sustainability and seeks to address the issues that matter most to Jacques Whitford's internal and external stakeholders." The report follows the innovative framework of a day in the life of Jacques Whitford's people and in accord with global standards reports on progress and challenges associated with the company's sustainability commitments.

Since Jacques Whitford became the first consulting firm of its size and type to become carbon neutral in June 2007, the company has made a concerted effort to engage employees in its CSR goals. Sustainability was established as a priority commitment and strategy for the firm and a core value in its internal and client oriented dimensions. For example, this year the company invested $1-million in a teleconferencing system to reduce carbon emissions. The dedicated sustainability and marketing teams have also been hard at work to provide opportunities for employees to get involved in various monthly sustainable activities.

Most recently, to celebrate their Top 100 Employer in Canada recognition by Maclean's magazine, the company organized a company-wide contest for the most sustainable celebration luncheon. A winning office from each region was chosen based on a number of categories including, location of the celebration and transportation emissions, origin of the food, materials used for decoration and clean-up.

In Western Canada, the Jacques Whitford office in Sidney, British Columbia, celebrated the top employer honour by walking and cycling to their party location. Employees created dishes for the luncheon using only local products which were grown or produced within 20km of Sidney. "We also encouraged everyone to bring a donation to the food bank and the person that brought the most food won a sustainable prize," said Craig Norris, Jacques Whitford Business Development Manager.

Jacques Whitford's 2008 Corporate Sustainability Report conforms to the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines and will be submitted to qualify for a C Application Level. The report is available on the company's website and reports on the progress of the company's 2007-08 fiscal year sustainability goals.

About Jacques Whitford
Established in 1972, Jacques Whitford is an internationally recognized leading provider of engineering, sustainability, environmental and earth sciences services solutions. With more than 45 offices across North America and internationally we are proud to be an employee owned company with more than 1,800 staff and over 100,000+ projects in more than 80 countries. For more information visit www.jacqueswhitford.com.

Jacques Whitford logo

Jacques Whitford

Jacques Whitford

Established in 1972, Jacques Whitford is an internationally recognized leader in engineering, environmental, sustainability and earth sciences services solutions. With more than 45 offices across North America and internationally we are proud to be an employee owned company with more than 1,800 staff and over 100,000+ projects in more than 80 countries. Sustainability Statement Jacques Whitford understands sustainability to simply mean: living responsibly, as individuals, communities, businesses and societies in ways that do not damage the natural world. Living responsibly includes enhancing environmental, social, cultural, economic and human rights conditions. The only way to do so is by taking integrated, long-term approaches that systematically unite social, economic and environmental factors as complementary allies. Jacques Whitford's commitment to sustainability arises in view of one big question that we have decided should have bearing on everything we do: 'What will our children, grandchildren and their children inherit?' To answer this question in a way that future generations will respect, we understand that 21st century business solutions will require adopting a revised set of values and metrics upon which to base decisions. They must incorporate a set of environmental, economic and social factors around which all stakeholders can coalesce. We believe that this is not only possible but necessary - redefining business success in ways that improve the environmental, social and economic fabric of our world. We don't think that this is some sort of new 'fuzzy thinking', but rather that our well tried quantitative and practical expertise can be applied to a revised set of standards and expectations.

More from Jacques Whitford

Join today and get the latest delivered to your inbox