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PRESS RELEASE
21st November 2012
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WWF Finland’s Green Office environmental management system to be used in
China
The Green Office environmental management system, which has been developed and coordinated by
WWF Finland, has made a significant expansion. Recently, WWF China presented the programme to
a wide group of participants: over 100 prominent representatives of Chinese and international
business life and society were present. By joining the Green Office programme, Chinese offices can
reduce their ecological footprint and significantly save natural resources.
Green Office is an important part of WWF China’s Business Alliance for Sustainability (BAS) programme.
The launching events held in October were attended by representatives of among others METSO, Bayer, AB
sugar, USB and other companies, and they were all very interested in the Green Office programme. The
speakers at the events were Peter Beaudoin, Chief Representative of WWF China, and Chen Xin, Green
Office Expert. Reaching a large crowd of listeners at the event strengthens the implementation of the
programme in China.
For now, recognition and reduction of the environmental effects of office work is fairly minimal in China. This
is why the Chinese Green Office programme will have a positive influence on the environment as well as on
attitudes in many ways. As a recognised and reliable international partner, WWF can help organisations to
carry their environmental responsibility also in office work. This can be achieved by monitoring and reducing
the consumption of paper, electricity and heat as well as reducing the amount of waste and number of
business trips.
“It is great that WWF China has started its own Green Office programme,” rejoices Helka Julkunen, Head of
Green Office at WWF Finland. “The implementation has been grounded carefully, and we believe the
number of programme participants will increase in China as well as elsewhere in Asia. WWF now has a great
opportunity to promote environmental protection together with different organisations in an environment
where there is not much experience of this kind of action in offices.”
“The implementation of the Green Office programme in China will increase general environmental awareness
through employees, customers and other stakeholders of the organisation involved,” believes Chen Xin.
WWF Finland started the Green Office programme ten years ago and still administrates it. Its goal is to
promote the cooperation between WWF offices and companies, especially in the developing markets of Asia.
At the moment, the most active areas in addition to China include Pakistan and Vietnam. The Green Office
network is growing steadily in Finland, too.
Further information:
Helka Julkunen, Head of Green Office programme, WWF Finland, tel. +358 40 5310 555
Chen Xin, Senior Officer, WWF China, email: [email protected]
WWF Green Office is an environmental management system for offices, which aims to reduce the ecological
footprint of offices and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. With the help of the service, offices can reduce
their strain on the environment and at the same time gain savings in material and energy costs. Green Office
is a light and practical environmental management system. WWF grants offices that meet its criteria the right
to use the Green Office label.
The international programme is at present also in use in China, Estonia, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan,
Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Estonia. At present, the Green Office network in Finland
includes almost 200 organisations with a total of over 68,000 employees. The network includes companies,
the public sector and third sector operators.
Green Office online: www.wwf.fi/green_office