Environmental Values at Work: Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers (2008)

Ten Canadian employers have been honoured as the nation's most environmentally responsible places to work, according to the 2008 list of Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers. The list was announced to coincide with Earth Day by the editors of the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

Toronto (PRWEB) April 23, 2008 -- Ten Canadian employers have been honoured as the nation's most environmentally responsible places to work, according to the 2008 list of Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers. The list was announced to coincide with Earth Day by the editors of the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

"These employers are setting the standard for integrating environmental values into their organizational cultures," said Richard Yerema, Managing Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. "Employees increasingly look at how their employers address the issue of environmental stewardship during their job search (http://www.eluta.ca) - and these employers are attracting people who identify with these values."

The new competition grew out of two remarkable speeches given by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former US Vice-President Al Gore at the annual conference on the Canada's Top 100 Employers project in 2006 and 2007.

This year's list includes range of employers from both the public and private sector. The common thread running through each of the winners is that each has made environmental values central to their corporate cultures. The full list of winners is attached.

Selections were made on the basis of information provided to editors for the 2008 Canada's Top 100 Employers competition and the finalists were selected from their 2008 list of national winners. More information on the competition and the editors' official Reasons for Selection explaining why each employer was chosen can be found at: http://www.CanadasTop100.com/environmental

For more information, please contact Richard Yerema, Managing Editor, at 416-987-1457 or Tony Meehan, Publisher, at 416-964-9179.

Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers (2008)

(in alphabetical order)

EPCOR Utilities Inc. (Edmonton AB): For providing excellent career opportunities to people who are interested in working on environmentally responsible energy projects, such as the company's new methane and wind-power generation facilities.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (Toronto ON): For leadership in developing the "Green Partnership Guide", now used throughout the industry to introduce hospitality employees to environmental stewardship.

Golder Associates Ltd. (Burnaby BC): For excellence in training employees for its environmental consulting engineering practice - the firm sets aside 1% of its net revenues for a fund that employees can use to pay for courses and degree programs at outside educational institutions.

HSBC Bank Canada (Vancouver BC): For actively involving employees in meeting its goal of going carbon-neutral in British Columbia through reduced electricity consumption and investment in alternative energy sources.

Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. (Mississauga ON): For industry leadership in integrating environmental values in the computer consumables business, leveraging employee efforts to recycle millions of pounds of used computer equipment and printer cartridges.

New Flyer Industries Canada ULC (Winnipeg MB): For supporting skilled trades workers by providing full salary to machinist, tool-and-die and millwright apprentices while they train to work on some of North America's most environmentally friendly mass transit bus designs.

Toronto Hydro Corporation (Toronto ON): For industry leadership in working with employees to reduce its own electricity consumption, developing bio-diesel for employee vehicles and diverting over 87% of the waste that the company previously sent to landfills.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (Cambridge ON): For exceptional leadership in the automotive industry by working with employees to create an automotive assembly operation that sends absolutely no waste to landfills and offers greatly reduced chemical emissions.

Vancity / Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancouver BC): For exceptional leadership in the financial services industry by working with employees to become carbon-neutral by 2010 and to offer a series of financial products that help consumers and the environment at the same time.

Resort Municipality of Whistler (Whistler BC): For leadership in the municipal sector by working with employees to introduce sustainability requirements into local government purchasing and for helping employees dispose of household electronic items in an environmentally responsible way.

###