An area where Trade Me expects to make a strong mark is the environment. It is working towards a carbon-neutral status and wants to achieve this before the middle of the year. 

Jon Macdonald says the steps they are taking to reach this started with measuring and documenting Trade Me’s current carbon emissions, which he says are mostly travel and energy consumption.

Trade Me is working with Landcare and Deloitte in going through the audit and certification processes. The company is also investigating the most effective way to acquire credits, or the projects they can work on to offset the carbon emissions.

It is a move that gets widespread staff support. “We have employees who are passionate about climate change and the environment. There is a bunch of things we have done internally in promoting recycling and responsible consumption as much as we can,” says Macdonald.

“For example, we’re a central Wellington organisation, we have a very finite number of car parks, which rather than going to senior management, have gone to people who ride scooters and motorbikes to work. Six people can use a single space, compared with one car. We consider it more space
efficient, and environmentally friendly. We also provide bike racks within the office, which are used a lot.”

Macdonald is emphatic Trade Me is not latching on to the current talk on climate change, saying he believes environmentally responsible ICT is here to stay.

“There is absolutely a role there for tech leaders to chart a course for their organisations and the community,” he states. “However, companies need to take a long-term approach. A real challenge for CIOs will be showing environmental leadership, while ensuring they adopt a long-term, sustainable approach rather than jumping on a PR bandwagon around climate change.

“CIOs need to become well armed with the knowledge to identify what is real and what they can do in their own operations that will genuinely make a difference.”

By Divina Paredes - CIO Magazine