TORONTO, May 9, 2013 /CNW/ - For the fourth consecutive year, Stikeman Elliott has been selected as one of Canada's Green 30 businesses by Maclean's magazine in collaboration with Aon Hewitt. The Green 30 is comprised of Canadian businesses most committed to environmental sustainability and whose employees at all levels believe they have incorporated environmental stewardship into their business model and corporate culture. The 30 recipients are selected from among the businesses that participated in the 2013 Best Employers in Canada survey, an honour the firm received earlier in the year.
"Stikeman Elliott is proud to be seen as a leader among professional services firms in its sustainability practices, which we promote strongly within each of our local markets," said firm Chair, William Braithwaite. "This is evident in the engagement seen among our firm members, the recognition the firm has received and in the relationships, both with the community and businesses, which have emerged."
Stikeman Elliott was the first and remains the only national Canadian law firm to be carbon neutral, achieved by developing and implementing successful green programs, helping the firm to reduce its carbon footprint by 13% since the first footprint in 2008.
The firm's commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) including environmental sustainability continues to have a positive impact on firm member engagement. This is highlighted in firm member responses to the 50 Best Employers in Canada annual survey questionnaire which measures firm member engagement across many factors, including CSR, where 94% of firm members in 2013 believe Stikeman Elliott is a socially and environmentally responsible organization, taking an active role in minimizing the impact of its operations on the environment. This compares to the average of 88% of the other Best Employers in 2013.
Many of the initiatives implemented by Stikeman Elliott to reduce waste have come from ideas suggested by employees, one of the criteria weighed in the selection of the award. In keeping with our sustainability program, the following initiatives were undertaken in 2012:
- Submission of data for the firm's third Carbon Footprint including:
- Key findings of the Toronto report which show a 9.1% reduction in our footprint and a 31% reduction in Toronto's sub metered electricity, due in large part to efforts undertaken with a lighting retrofit.
- Participation in a waste management task force:
- The firm successfully completed a re-launch of its waste program by aligning recycling to more closely match residential programs. New recycling equipment and smaller waste containers with enhanced visual bin signage were distributed to 630 offices/workstations/serveries. This heightened awareness of items acceptable in waste, paper, recycling and organics streams.
- Having been successful in working with our landlord to incorporate paper towels used in kitchens (previously placed in waste stream destined for landfill) into the organics stream, the firm carried out further changes to recycling signage in serveries.
- Successfully implemented reusable delivery boxes for delivery of office products, in conjunction with the firm's office products supplier, thereby reducing waste in the procurement process.
- Conducted a power survey and identified all areas where space heaters were being used with a view to continued focus on power reduction. Remedial work was carried out on induction units where operation was deficient and space heaters were removed.
ABOUT STIKEMAN ELLIOTT LLP
Stikeman Elliott LLP is recognized internationally for the sophistication of its business law practice. The firm is a Canadian leader in each of its core practice areas - corporate finance, M&A, banking, corporate-commercial, real estate, tax, insolvency, structured finance, competition, business litigation - and has developed in-depth knowledge of a wide range of industries from banking and insurance to energy, mining and technology.
Stikeman Elliott maintains offices in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as London, New York and Sydney. The firm was named as one of Canada's 50 Best Employers for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, and as one of the Top 100 Employers in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. It was further recognized in 2010, 2012 and 2013 as one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers and in 2010 as among the Best Employers for New Canadians. It was also named as a Green 30 organization in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, a distinction presented to businesses who display a commitment to environmental sustainability in their operations.
For more information about Stikeman Elliott please visit www.stikeman.com.
SOURCE: Stikeman Elliott LLP
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