Photo caption: Members of the 2024 winning Green Impact team, from Procurement, Nick Rosewarne, Phil Shaw, Bridgid Stubbs, Chantal Odendal, Jacqui Kingi, and Sun Jeong.
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury’s (UC) ‘Green Horizon’ Procurement team claimed the 2024 Green Impact title for the second year running, with Digital Services coming a close second place.
Green Impact is more than just a competition – it’s an engaging way for UC staff to make a real difference in their workplace. Run by Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS), the programme empowers teams to take action, no matter how much time they have, whether it’s five minutes a week or an hour.
Planning and completing sustainability actions together brought the Procurement team closer together, Green Impact champion Phil Shaw says.
“We already had a great team culture, but participating in Green Impact helped bring us even closer together and also connect more with the wider Financial Services team.”
Sustainability became part of everyday work conversations – whether at the water cooler or in meetings – sparking curiosity across the wider Finance portfolio. The team completed many smaller actions, such as identifying a new waste stream to recycle craft materials, organising events to raise awareness and raise funds for the Summit Road Society, organising a food collection for disadvantaged members of society, a number of activities to reduce plastics, and joining the Aotearoa Bike Challenge to encourage more staff to cycle to work. Going above and beyond, the team also completed occasional bigger actions off campus, such as tree planting and maintaining an ecological restoration area.
Sustainability at UC isn’t just about big institutional goals such as reducing emissions or aligning learning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals – it’s also about the small, everyday choices our community makes. While many experts at UC are researching world-leading solutions to sustainability challenges, most staff want to take action in their immediate environment and daily life as well.
Even small actions help improve sustainability across the University, Shaw says. “When people are actively involved in sustainability at every level, the more visible sustainability is across campus and the easier it is to get involved.”
Strategic Procurement Manager Nick Rosewarne says Green Impact can also enhance workplace practice. “In one way the competition builds our understanding of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles when writing tenders and evaluating potential suppliers. Our understanding is not textbook-based but comes through applying those principles and seeing the outcome.”
In line with New Zealand Government Procurement rules, UC’s Procurement team can add a 10% weighting on sustainable outcomes when evaluating suppliers.
“We look for the four key areas being social, economic, environmental and cultural impacts,” Rosewarne says. “Once assessed and awarded, contracts will in some instances have reporting requirements that ensure that they demonstrate compliance with the contract and show ongoing metrics and innovations in this space.”
The 2025 Green Impact launched on 12 February with a challenge to ‘green thumb your office’ to encourage colleagues to bring indoor plants to their office to improve air quality and boost wellbeing.
UC colleagues can register on Tu ki te tahi.
