Green Office “cool” at the British Embassy

 The number of “Green Offices” in Vietnam has grown with the British Embassy in Hanoi, the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and the Department for International Development Vietnam (DFID Vietnam) becoming the newest members of WWF Vietnam’s Green Office programme. 

There are now five certified Green Offices in business and government sectors in Vietnam and more than 130 around the world. 

To qualify as a Green Office, the embassy, the consulate general and DFID Vietnam implemented an environmental management plan to reduce their consumption of electricity and paper, reduce transport emissions, and educate staff in sustainable practices and climate change mitigation.

"The UK team deals with the big issue of global warming and climate change with every smallest effort,” British Ambassador Mark Kent says. “We also have a pro-active Green Team, a hub for many office-greening innovations. The Green Office has helped us to make a big difference.” 

But it’s not only the planet which benefits from Green Office. As Ambassador Kent explains: “We have even launched our casual Fridays when people wear T-shirts or jeans to work (to avoid sweating and using air-cons); obviously, greening is cool here!" 

In only three months, the embassy reduced paper consumption by 20 percent by  encouraging staff to stop unnecessary printing and to print on both sides of the paper. Plastic bag consumption was reduced by 20 per cent by switching to reusable canvas bags. 

At DFID Vietnam, there was a 16 per cent reduction in electricity consumption achieved by reminding staff to turn off lights and appliances when not in use, and activating the energy-saving functionality of office equipment. 

WWF Vietnam Country Programme Manager Ruth Mathews congratulated the embassy on their results, which showed that “business and government sectors know that it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect the planet’s natural wealth”. 

“By successfully completing the audit and certification process, you have demonstrated that you are taking practical measures to make a personal, measurable difference to the fight against climate change.”