The Newport and Gwent Chamber of Commerce Enterprise and Industry (NGCCEI) have been awarded a prestigious environmental standard in recognition of its environmental performance and management.
The NGCCEI was recognised with certification to levels one and two of the Green Dragon Standard, which is a stepped approach to environmental management. Levels one and two best suit the needs and requirements of the NGCCEI, the industry within which it operates and the environmental impacts associated with their activities.
NGCCEI is the parent body of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce and Centre for Business. It is the largest business support provider in Wales, with more than 1100 Chamber members, a key influencer on business topics, offering training, business consultancy, IT consultancy, business-to-business support and test trading opportunities. It also delivers all three south Wales Business Start-Up contracts as part of a consortium, as well as the prestigious Business Wales contract for Welsh Government.
David Russ, Managing Director of NGCCEI, says: “NGCCEI is committed to becoming an exemplar organisation. Achieving this award is a hugely important step towards achieving this goal as we continue to develop an environmental culture within the business.
“We have worked extremely hard over the last six months to go through the necessary steps to implement the environmental management system and integrate effective environmental management into everything we do. We now have a Green Team of 11 people responsible for ensuring our environmental policy continues to be implemented fully and on a daily basis.
“We recognise the importance of obtaining an award such as the Green Dragon Standard, which is a key requirement for us in delivering contracts for the Welsh Government and ensures we practice what we preach in terms of the resource and efficiency elements of our fully subsidised business support services.”
As part of the standard, the organisation undertook an environmental review to identify the legislation and opportunities to continually improve our environmental performance.
The NGCCEI has developed an environmental improvement plan for the organisation which outlines our environmental objectives for the year and the processes / measures necessary to achieve them.
Mr Russ adds: “Over the next 12 months we have further environmental plans for NGCCEI including the overall reduction of fossil fuel consumption for powering electrical and electronic equipment, heating the building and transport.
“We are delighted to have received certification to levels one and two of the Green Dragon Standard and we’re keen to take that on to the next level in the coming months.”
The Green Dragon Environmental Standard has five levels of attainment, with each step contributing towards achievement of the international and European environmental standards, ISO 14001 and EMAS (Eco-Management Audit Scheme).