Communications Agency Gets a Green Makeover

Toronto, February 5, 2008 – The only thing hotter than global warming in business these days is discussion of how to go green. Environics Communications, a full-service North American public relations firm with offices in Canada and the United States, is practicing what it preaches by taking ambitious and measurable action to reduce its own environmental impact, starting with a commitment to become carbon-neutral by the spring of 2008.

"We want to be the greenest North American PR agency and everyone on our team is contributing ideas and taking action to make this possible," said Bruce MacLellan, president, Environics Communications. "Going green is the right thing for the planet and also allows us to be more knowledgeable partners on this important topic with our clients."

Aiming to lead by example, Environics has taken a number of steps to decrease its own environmental footprint and meet its aggressive carbon neutral target. The company's four offices, located in Toronto, Montréal, Washington and Metro New York, are expected to follow a comprehensive reduce/reuse/recycle approach to waste.

How it's done:

• The agency now sources a majority of its electrical power supply from clean, emission-free producers that use wind and water instead of carbon-intensive sources like coal and oil.
• A "Flick Off" strategy encourages all employees to turn off lights and computers when not in use. One office has motion-activated light switches and these have been requested from other landlords.
• Use of energy-saving light bulbs in desk lamps.
• In the largest offices, employees no longer use water coolers, eliminating the environmental impact (e.g. production, delivery and removal, cleaning etc.) of approximately 480 18.5-litre bottles each year. Each employee has received a re-usable, non-toxic personal water bottle to encourage use of tap water.
• Paper use is down across all offices as employees adopt new habits such as printing double-sided copies and reviewing and sharing documents electronically.
• The agency has switched to eco-friendly products such as recycled paper and suppliers that commit to greener packaging (e.g. caterers that reduce and re-use plastic containers).
• Ink cartridges for Xerox printers and fax machines are recycled.
• All employees are eligible for a $250 subsidy towards the purchase of a bicycle, and public transit is frequently used for external meetings.

The location of the company's annual all-staff retreat is chosen in part to reduce the number of employees who are required to use air travel to attend, and carbon offsets through tree planting have been purchased for the last two meetings.

The agency has recently begun working with the Pembina Institute to plan and execute its climate change strategy in order to meet its carbon neutral goal. They'll start by developing an accurate emissions inventory of their operations by measuring greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, electricity usage, paper usage and staff commuting. Once a baseline year is established, the agency will work with Pembina to identify and purchase the necessary offset credits to mitigate its own greenhouse gas emissions.

In providing green counsel, Environics brings to its clients decades of experience in all aspects of public and government relations related to environmental issues for organizations in the healthcare, technology, financial and consumer products sectors. Staff members at the firm also have experience working as consultants or volunteers with several different environmental NGOs.

The organization's sister companies, Environics Research and Environics Analytics, provide a combination of social values and geo-demographic intelligence to complement the company's strategic communications offering. These resources enable Environics to monitor public opinion on the environment and climate change throughout North America in real-time.

"We can help clients distinguish between genuinely going green and 'green-washing,'" said MacLellan. "With intense media and public scrutiny on the environment, organizations can not afford a misstep in communicating their environmental stories."