Sustainability Advisory

Organica Engineering has been a leader in corporate sustainability advisory for Australian Businesses and Government Departments for over 15 years.

1. Sustainability Strategy Development

• Advisory Service: Assist companies in developing comprehensive sustainability strategies that align with their business goals. This includes setting sustainability targets, creating action plans, and integrating sustainability into corporate governance.
• Key Deliverables: Sustainability frameworks, implementation roadmap, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for sustainability.

2. Green Building Certification Advisory

• Advisory Service: Provide experienced guidance on achieving green building certifications and procurement such as Green Star Buildings, Green Star Performance, or NABERS. This includes conducting sustainability assessments, advising on energy efficiency, water conservation, and sustainable materials.
• Sustainability Rating Tools: Utilising our experience in tools like Green Star, InSite Water, and BESS, we assist in creating or auditing rating tools and calculators. These tools are pivotal in evaluating and enhancing your project, office or portfolio sustainability performance.
• Key Deliverables: Certification readiness reports, project management for certification, and post-certification performance tracking.

3. Sustainability toolkits and standards

• Advisory Service: Offer services to measure, analyze, and reduce a company’s carbon footprint. This includes conducting greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, setting reduction targets, and identifying opportunities for emissions reductions across operations. 
• Key Deliverables: Carbon footprint report, CACN certifications, Green Star performance certificationsemissions reduction strategy, and monitoring and reporting frameworks.

4. Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Compliance

• Advisory Service: Assist organizations in preparing sustainability reports in line with global standards such as GRI, TCFD, or CDP. Provide guidance on compliance with local and international sustainability regulations and reporting requirements.
• Key Deliverables: Sustainability reports, compliance audit support, and stakeholder communication strategies.

5. Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Sustainable Procurement

• Advisory Service: Help companies enhance the sustainability of their supply chains by assessing supplier practices, identifying risks, and developing strategies for sustainable procurement. This includes creating supplier codes of conduct and sustainability assessment tools. Provide guidance on complying with the Australian Government Environmentally Sustainable Procurement (ESP) Policy and Reporting Framework
• Key Deliverables: Supply chain sustainability assessment, supplier engagement strategies, and sustainable procurement guidelines.

With over two decades of experience, our depth of knowledge, coupled with our team of seasoned professionals, forms the backbone of our services. Organica is led by Ian Adams, a chartered civil and environmental engineer. We have experience integrating ESD solutions into a wide array of developments, ensuring that your sustainability goals are not just met, but exceeded.

Sustainability Advisory, Policy, Toolkits and Reporting experience highlights:

• Helping numerous organisations with strategy and policy to deliver Greener Buildings, such as the Department of Defence, AMP Capital, the ANZ bank, The Vic MFB, Sustainability Victoria, the DHS, the ABCB and Victorian councils such as Brimbank, Darebin, the City of Yarra and Knox.
• Hands on experience delivering large scale building and community projects from as Fraser’s Sustainability coordinator for 5 years, working on over 100 projects around Australia to deliver world class sustainability and WSUD outcomes.
• Assisted ADCO constructions with their Environmental Management System (EMS) and preparations for certification to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standard. Have also assisted Mirvac, Frasers Property Australia, and Lendlease on various building industry related environmental management tasks such as waste provider audits and achieving many specific Green Star credit outcomes.
• Expert Reference Panel (Nature Category) for the Green Star Communities v2 tool (2023) for the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). Also development of Green Star credits for Integrated Water Management, Biodiversity Enhancement, Water Resilience, and Soil Protection. Peer Reviewer for the Green Star for Buildings, and the Green Star homes water calculators for the Green Building Council of Australia in 2021-23. Reviewer for Green Star Performance v2 energy calculator.
• Certified assessor for the Green Star Interiors, Green Star Communities, and Green Star Performance tools. Regularly assists the GBCA in developing and assessing projects against new pilot Green Star tools under development.
  Assisted Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) to develop the Green Star National Railways Design and As-Built tool.
• Green Star Auditor for over 400 projects for the GBCA including the Manningham Civic Precinct Hub (5 Star Green Star Public Buildings tool), RMIT Building 80 on Swanston St Melbourne (5 Star Green Star Education tool), The Pixel Building in Carlton (6 Star Green Star Office v3), The ANZ building in the Docklands (6 Star Green Star Office v3), The Sydney Opera house (Green Star Performance), The Docklands Library (6 Star Green Star Public Buildings tool), and the University of Queensland’s Education Gateways Building (EDGY) at the Springfield campus in QLD (5 Star Green Star Education tool).
• Ian’s first job out of university was ISO14001 work with Kodak film manufacturing in their factory in Coburg, Melbourne, joining the company in 2002 just before it’s collapse in 2003 - after the technology disruption of digital cameras.  This has given Ian a fascination with helping organisations take a proactive approach to technology curves. He has extensively worked on innovation systems to help clients stay ahead of market trends.

Our approach is holistic and tailored. We understand that each organisation's sustainability journey is unique. Therefore, we assist clients in crafting comprehensive strategies that resonate with specific strategic goals and values.

• Advisory Service: Offer a Virtual Chief Sustainability Officer service to government entities and organizations that need a dedicated sustainability leader but may not have the resources or need for a full-time position. As a vCSO, Organica Engineering will provide strategic leadership to champion sustainability initiatives, including the Net Zero in Government Operations Strategy. We will support the development and implementation of sustainability policies, provide training and capacity building, and assist compliance with relevant regulations, and serve as a liaison with the Department of Finance's Chief Sustainability Officer network. This service allows organizations to benefit from high-level sustainability expertise without the need to hire a full-time executive, making it an attractive option for both government entities and private organizations committed to sustainability.
• Key Deliverables: Strategic sustainability plans, Net Zero strategy implementation, policy development, 

Our rich history in advising government organisations positions us uniquely to offer policy advisory services. We assist in establishing sustainability assessments in planning and CapEx programs, ensuring that projects not only comply with policies and best practice guidelines, but also set new standards in sustainable development.

• Experience from a Government Perspective, Ian has been ESD officer for half a dozen Councils in Melbourne and advisor to many other Councils around Australia. We have supported many Local Governments to in Sustainable Capital Works mentoring, training and advice. For example support and training for the City of Ballarat in implementing sustainable design into both the planning application assessment and also to help Council demonstrate leadership in Council’s own capital works projects (2023). Assisted Knox Council, the City of Ballarat, Yarra Ranges, Greater Dandenong, Wyndham and Casey Councils in developing and implementing their Sustainable Design in planning (SDAPP) and Integrated Water Management planning policies.
• Project Manager for developing the Defence Green Building requirements, part 2 policies and associated toolkits. These Department of Defence policies, guidelines and toolkits look at improving operational ESD performance requirements in Defence’s portfolio of about 30,000 buildings.  The project required broad defence stakeholder engagement and an in depth understanding of Defence policies and processes.  The project also required in-depth analysis of energy and other environmental opportunities in existing buildings.  The project also reviewed and updated the Green Building Requirements Part 1 policy which sets out ESD requirements for all new Defence buildings.
• ESD policy development for the Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (EAGA). EAGA engaged Organica Engineering in 2019-2022 to evaluate the extent to which Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) policies and practices are being implemented in council building projects and infrastructure delivery in 8 Eastern Melbourne Councils encompassing over 500 staff and $10 billion annual Capex and Opex spend. The overarching goal of the evaluation was to assist councils to achieve best practice sustainability outcomes in the way council buildings and infrastructure are planned, designed, built, used and maintained. The outputs of the project included a customisable template ESD policy for use of all EAGA councils, to either establish a new policy from scratch, or to enhance and update an existing policy. The project also provided guidance materials to assist councils establish and implement the ESD policy.
• Development of Sustainable Design Requirements policies, guides and toolkits for numerous Councils including Whittlesea Council, Whitehorse Council, City of Port Phillip, Darebin City Council, Hobson’s Bay City Council, the City of Casey and the ASB Group (RMIT, Manningham City Council, Moreland City Council, Yarra City Council).  These were to address best practice standards of ESD in the design or retrofit of community and public buildings. The projects usually involved workshops and extensive stakeholder engagement in the process.  The design brief, implementation requirements document and ESD toolkit clearly identify council and stakeholder processes and sustainable design principles for energy, water, transport, indoor air quality, materials, etc, and strategies to achieve carbon neutrality.
• On the technical team to develop the BESS toolkit for sustainability in planning working for the Municiple Association of Victoria. The project was to develop sustainability criteria and indicators for assessment of all new residential, commercial, retail, and industrial planning permit applications.  

We extend our expertise beyond consultancy to education and training. Our director, Ian Adams, an industry trainer and lecturer at renowned universities, leads our efforts in educating individuals and organizations. We offer leadership workshops, stakeholder engagement, and staff training sessions, all aimed at fostering a culture of sustainability within your organization.