Business Chamber Queensland has received international recognition for a program which helps hundreds of businesses reduce their power consumption, water use and waste.
CEO Heidi Cooper said the ecoBiz program had been named the Best Green Transition Project at the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne this month.
Ms Cooper said it was the only international award that recognised the most innovative projects undertaken by Chambers of Commerce and Industry globally.
She said ecoBiz trumped applications from across the world because it delivered long-term impact, originality and scalability.
“The program is a pioneer in sustainability capability-building for SMEs, filling a major gap in support for businesses who want to adopt sustainable business practices but simply do not have the resources to do so.
“ecoBiz provides free support for SMEs to change the way they operate to be more sustainable and there is no other program like it.”
Ms Cooper said ecoBiz had helped more than 800 businesses in one year to avoid the equivalent of 3200 households’ average annual electricity use, 20 Olympic swimming pools of water, and more than 100 garbage trucks of waste.
She said those businesses avoided more than $3 million dollars in direct costs.
“ecoBiz blends digital tools and personalised coaching through a curated user journey informed by an individual business’s maturity and capability level.
“It means it delivers value at scale, as well as meaningful one-to-one support with efficiency.”
Ms Cooper said the human coaching element ensured that behind the dashboards and data, there was always a trusted advisor helping businesses translate insight into action that was tailored specifically for that individual business.
“Sustainable businesses are competitive, productive and future-ready – ready to meet evolving consumer demand and supply chain needs, ready to compete for major procurement opportunities, ready to export and ready to do their part to address one of the greatest challenges of our time.
“This has never been more important as we look toward the enormous opportunity we will see in Queensland in the lead up to the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.”
State Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki said the program, delivered in partnership with the Queensland Government, was delivering for Queensland businesses.
“Each year, ecoBiz enables SMEs across every industry sector in Queensland to embed sustainable practices into their everyday operations, reducing operating costs and ensuring their productivity, resilience and competitiveness in the immediate and long term,” Mr Janetzki said.
