Greening your Office | Campus Carbon Neutrality

Guidelines and Best Practices

A Guidebook for GPA – GO containing guidance on implementation and assessment of green office initiatives in seven green office aspects including energy conservation, water conservation, waste reduction, paper reduction, green procurement and sustainable consumption, sustainable and healthy workplace, and green governance and a GPA - GO Best Practices Guide containing a showcase of practical green offices practices taken by leading academic and non-academic departments and units are available to articulate helpful ways to conserve energy and water resources, reduce waste generation and paper consumption, introduce green procurement practices, develop a sustainable and healthy workplace, and advocate green governance.

Resources

A series of Fact Sheets and Signages are available for displaying and sharing to facilitate promotion and internal communication of each of the seven green office aspects in departments and offices.

Green Office Assessment

It was voluntary in GPA – GO Phase 1 and became compulsory in GPA – GO Phases 2 to 5 for all departments and offices to complete a green office assessment using the Green Office Assessment Tool. Participating departments and offices had up to 12 months to achieve the required items listed on the Green Office Initiatives checklist in the Green Office Assessment Tool before submission.

More than 80 green office initiatives, covering seven green office aspects as detailed above have been developed in the Green Office Initiatives checklist for GPA – GO Phases 1 to 5. Under each of the seven aspects, the initiatives are divided into three categories, namely “basic”, “advanced” and “innovation”. Green Officers and their senior management or GPA – GO Working Group (if any) of each department or office, were encouraged to discuss how to fulfil the listed green office initiatives within the 12-month implementation period. Green Officers were also advised to inform all staff members of their respective department or office on the listed green office initiatives and seek their support and collaboration in implementing the items.

As a basic requirement, participating department/office need to achieve at least 50% of the “basic” items in each of the 7 aspects and at least one “advanced” or “innovation” item in each of the 7 aspects (except for “Water Conservation”). Supporting documents, e.g., email, photo, meeting minutes or document proof etc., should be kept for 'advanced' or 'innovation' items and made available during on-site or online visit and audit. To strive for excellence, Green Officers were encouraged to target for a higher achievement beyond the basic requirement i.e. more than 50% of the “basic” items in each of the 7 aspects and more than one “advanced” or “innovation” item in each of the 7 aspects (except for “Water Conservation”).

Paper Audit

It is also compulsory for the participating departments and offices to complete a Paper Audit using the Paper Audit Tool in GPA – GO Phases 3 to 5. Participating departments and offices are required to visit their storage areas and conduct paper audits regularly to assess their office’s paper consumption pattern.

Support

CFSO provided advice to respective departments and offices during the course of GPA – GO Phases 1 to 5. During the course of GPA - GO Phases 1 to 5, representatives from CFSO conducted on-site or online visits to evaluate the environmental performance of each department and office. Interviews with the Green Officers and representatives of departments and offices were conducted to study practicable green initiatives being adopted, identify improvement opportunities and understand challenges and constraints encountered.