MED Southern Business Centre
Christchurch

Good morning everyone. As you are all aware the Labour-led government has put sustainability high on its agenda. We recognise that environmental sustainability is fundamental to New Zealand's ability to achieve our economic transformation objectives of future prosperity and international competitiveness.

Today another sustainability milestone for the government has been reached. That milestone is that I have asked all core government departments to add sustainability to their shopping checklist and I am releasing new guidelines, targets and standards for government departments to help them to do this.

Government departments must now look at the environmental credentials of all of the paper, timber products, and light fittings they purchase, as well as the travel arrangements they make.

This will help ensure government departments purchase goods and services that are more water and energy efficient, emit less carbon, produce less waste, and are accredited or environmentally certified where possible.

This new mandate is part of the Sustainable Government Procurement Project, which is one of the government’s six sustainability initiatives launched in February of this year.

This Project is being led by the Ministry of Economic Development – who will also be bound by those standards – so I felt it fitting that I make this announcement here at MED's Southern Business Centre. I would like to record my thanks to Justin Hygate and the team for hosting us this morning.

Through this project the government will use its purchasing power to help drive the market for environmentally-friendly goods and services.

At the same time I hope that it will play a role in delivering the mind-set change and on-going momentum required to enable us to meet the challenges of climate change, while securing New Zealand’s future prosperity and business competitiveness.

The new requirements for government departments will have a tangible impact on our environment. For example, all paper sourced by government departments in future must have a minimum ‘three-star’ rating, which means that the environmental impacts associated with production are substantially less than standard paper. This will not only have an impact on reducing pollution but it will help cut overall emissions too.

Through the standards for timber and wood products, the government will influence buying behaviour to drive down illegal logging, which poses a serious threat to forests, communities and wildlife worldwide. The Labour-led government is taking the lead on this important issue by ensuring that government departments only purchase legally-sourced paper and wood products.

Other targets and standards which I'd like to highlight include:

• All departments will have a workplace travel plan in place by the end of 2010 with the aim of reducing kilometres travelled by 15 per cent, without reducing departmental performance;
• departments will only consider purchasing, hiring, or leasing vehicles that have a minimum emissions standard of Euro 4, or its equivalent;
• departments will purchase energy-efficient lamps instead of standard lightbulbs; and
• video-conferencing and electronic communications will be encouraged as an alternative to travel.

The new requirements represent the first real milestone for the Sustainable Government Procurement Project and will help government departments to boost their sustainable business capability.

The requirements will complement the measures many government departments are already taking to be more sustainable and I am proud to be part of a government that is taking the lead on this important issue.

Thank you.