Influence on Employees

Several examples of the sustainable corporate culture being embedded in companies in Singapore:

Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO)                                                                                           (service provider to the offshore oil and gas industry)

In 2010,  SPO was among the first 50 companies in Singapore to obtain the eco-label and was very proud of it. SPO continuously tries to raise awareness of environmental issues among its staff.  No disposable cutlery and crockery would be found in their pantries and they do not use bottled water. Purchasing policies stipulate that they only use paper from sustainable sources and  give preference to suppliers who use environmentally friendly products. Paper recycling increased by 28% over the period of 2 years. Supporting a fair-trade organic coffee/tea business from South America, participating in annual WWF-run Earth Hour event, and carpooling are among the many environmentally sustainable efforts done by the employees of SPO.

CBRE Singapore (full-service real estate services company)

CBRE had set up a Green Office Task Force to implement green office initiatives – recycling, energy saving, system of audits and incentives to get staff to go green, and turn off computers before they leave daily. All printers are set to default B&W printing, monthly reports are circulated to department heads to keep them informed of paper usage.

Green activities are weaved into teambuilding events. Staff are tasked to separate waste into various categories as part of their teambuilding activity. Staff participate in yearly activities such as Green Day during which staff have to spring clean and try to keep printing to a minimum. In September 2012, more than 70 per cent of staff took part in an Eco Challenge at East Coast Park. Teams of staff competed to complete a series of challenges using bicycles, skates, roller blades. One of the challenges included researching on an exotic plant type and planting it in a plastic, recycleable water bottle.

CBRE is a regular supporter of Earth Hour. Staff members put pen to paper, one concrete act to protect the environment. Those who pledged were given a half day off in exchange.Through a step-by-step approach involving education, awareness, activity days, CBRE Singapore attained its eco-office certification in 2010, the first real estate consultancy to do so in 2010. In fact, energy consumption of printers has been reduced by 66% and paper consumption by 35%, based on official vendor records.