Distinguished Speaker - Vancouver Board of Trade

Sustainable practices make good business sense,
engage staff and donors: YWCA CEO Janet Austin
By Nancy Tinari
Business and organizations are becoming
increasingly aware of climate change and the
need to do their part to reduce their carbon
footprint. But the YWCA is a leading model
of how a non-profit organization has established
environmentally sound practices as a
core value. This is reflected in many practical
initiatives, some involving major building
projects, as well as day-to-day operations
and purchasing decisions.
During a recent interview for Sounding
Board, YWCA CEO Janet Austin shared insights
on how the organization turned green.
When asked what motivated the YWCA
to start making changes, Austin explains
she has a strong personal interest in the
environment. A house she and her husband
built about nine years ago won the Mayor’s
Environmental Award, and it encouraged her
to start developing sustainable initiatives at
the YWCA in 2005.
However, it wasn’t until 2007 that the
organization formally set specific targets
towards reducing its carbon footprint. This
was in large part due to a social marketing
event promoted by the City of Vancouver,
called One Day, when all organizations and
individuals were encouraged to make small
changes in their practices that would have a
positive effect on the environment.
Austin says, “We agreed to participate
. . . I think that really was the starting point.”
At the same time, the YWCA benefited by
hiring Ted Cathcart as its facilities manager.
Cathcart had many ideas about sustainability,
including a plan to convert the rooftop
ornamental garden at the Hornby Program
Centre into a produce garden.
Austin gave him the go-ahead, with the
only caveat being he “couldn’t spend a penny
more” on the garden’s upkeep. Many volunteers,
under the guidance of master gardeners
from UBC, now work in the garden. Last
Janet Austin stands in the roof top produce garden at the Hornby Program Centre
“It is possible for a non-profit organization
whose core focus is community service work
to . . . maintain our programs and services
in a way that adheres to sound principles of
environmental sustainability,” Janet Austin
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year it yielded half a tonne of produce that
was donated to the YWCA’s Crabtree Corners
Community Kitchen, serving families in the
Downtown Eastside, Austin says.
Cathcart and Lori Brown, the YWCA’s
corporate development and purchasing
manager, started the YWCA’s formal commitment
to sustainability by attending
training sessions taught by Climate Smart
Businesses Inc. The company specializes
in helping businesses measure their annual
CO 2
e (carbon dioxide equivalent, the universal
unit used to report greenhouse gas emissions)
and in advising them on strategies to
reduce it. A grant from Vancity paid for the
training program.
According to Austin, Cathcart and Brown
found the Climate Smart training helpful.
Business people can rest assured that one
doesn’t need to have a scientific background
to use the software that Climate Smart provides
for measuring CO 2
e.
After completing the Climate Smart training
in 2007, the YWCA set a goal to reduce
its annual CO 2
e by 25 per cent by 2013. Impressively,
they have already measured an
18-per-cent reduction, reports Austin. This
has been achieved in numerous ways, both
large and small:
At the YWCA’s 155-room hotel, $500,000
spent on capital improvements led to a CO 2
e
reduction of 76 per cent, largely following
the installation of a high-efficiency boiler.
Energy-efficient mini fridges and lowering
the temperature of the water heaters also
PHOTO BY N. Tinari
helped. The result is capital costs will be
recovered in five years through reduced
operating costs.
The YWCA’s new housing projects in
Surrey and Coquitlam are being built to Gold
LEED certification standards. Cost-benefit
analyses of retro-fitting some of the YWCA’s
older buildings to make them more energyefficient
are currently underway.
Procedures followed at all 30 Metro Vancouver
YWCA locations include composting,
recycling (staff are taught how to do this
effectively), purchasing green stationery
and cleaning products and printing doublesided.
Waste-reduction audits are being done
at the hotel, program centre and Crabtree
Corners, with an ultimate goal of producing
zero waste.
Austin said the benefits of sustainable
practices go beyond long-term financial
savings. Staff engagement is very important.
All employees are encouraged to use sustainable
practices at work and at home. Each
employee is required to state two changes
they have made at home.
Staff response has been extremely positive,
Austin says.
“When we survey them, we see how
proud they are to be part of an organization
that has made a serious commitment and
has taken serious steps.”
Donors, too, are impressed and feel good
about supporting an organization they see as
environmentally progressive.
“It is possible for a non-profit organization
whose core focus is community service
work to also . . . maintain our programs
and services in a way that adheres to sound
principles of environmental sustainability,”
Austin says. “It’s the right thing to do, but
we’re also demonstrating that it makes very
good business sense.”
Austin commented that sustainability is
of concern to young people too. This year
the YWCA has partnered with the YMCA
for the first time in a Youth Eco Internship
Program (YEIP) funded by the Canadian
government’s Economic Action Plan. Under
this program, 300 young people have opportunities
during three-, six- or nine-month
placements to gain workplace experience
leading to careers in environmental sustainability.
The YWCA Vancouver has been asked
to take a leadership role in this program,
Austin says with pride.
1. Get an energy audit and follow through with improvements.
2. Draft proof your home.
3. Turn it off.
4. Switch to energy-efficient lighting.
5. Install automatic lighting controls.
6. Buy green electronics.
7. Put a freeze on inefficient refrigeration.
8. Use less energy to wash your laundry.
9. Reuse and recycle old electronic equipment.
10. Use less energy to dry your laundry.
Visit http://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/
JAL recognized
as an Eco-First
Company in
Japan
Japan Airlines (JAL) was recently recognized
by the Ministry of the Environment
of Japan as an Eco-First Company. The
recognition was based on the airline’s commitment
to the Eco-First Pledge and to the
established Biodiversity Policy of the JAL
Group. JAL has also been promoting the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (COP10) which took
place in Nagoya, Japan, earlier this year.
8 Sounding Board/November-December 2010 The Vancouver Board of Trade/Spirit of Enterprise ®