Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our generation. Fortunately people and organisations around the world are beginning to recognise their responsibility to protect and maintain our natural environment for future generations.

Fletcher Building is one of those organisations, committed to maintaining long-term viability via a minimised impact on the natural environment. The company has developed a range of strategies to support sustainability, including the use of recycled materials as raw material and fuels, the use of renewable energy (particularly biomass) and the introduction of new technologies to provide energy to our industrial processes. Greater energy efficiency is also achieved through plant and equipment improvements.

Fletcher Building has established an Executive Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Council, chaired by Chief Executive Jonathan Ling. The Council's objective is to provide direction and coordination to reduce Fletcher Building's environmental footprint.

A target to reduce Fletcher Building's Co₂ emissions by 5% has been set in place. To achieve a 5% reduction, a total company-wide reduction of CO₂ will need to be in the vicinity of 80,000 tonnes per annum.

To help achieve this, Winstone Aggregates will target a 5% improvement in energy efficiency by 2012 and over the next quarter will implement a number of initiatives, including:

Ensuring our products and services lead to better environmental efficiency in our customers' buildings and infrastructure.

Eliminating or minimising waste from our products, services and workplaces.

Finding and implementing economic energy-efficient solutions for our businesses.

Auditing and highlighting each site's water management.

We are already on the right path with all of our sites reporting energy use and some sites have also taken up the waste challenge. In June, Hunua completed a waste audit, showing the site generates a total of 22 tonnes of waste for landfill each year, 25% of which is recyclable; that's one of their challenges.

As with all parts of our business, measuring and understanding the task are good starting points from which to develop a plan. Our Three Kings, Puni, Penrose, Flat Top and Helensville sites already have recycling bins in place. Puketutu Island even has a worm farm set up for their biodegradable waste. And of course, every site recycles their scrap metal.

Once the 5% campaign begins, we will be asking each site to report on what they are doing to create a sustainable workplace and we'll be looking to highlight ideas and create case studies that can be used as inspiration for other Winstone Aggregates sites and Fletcher Building business units.

We invite our customers, suppliers and community to join us on our campaign to reduce energy intake. To obtain more information and resources contact us.