Employees help British Columbia government reach ambitious green goal

What’s an organization of 30,000 employees to do when it pledges carbon neutrality by 2010, yet lacks a clear strategy to reach that goal?

It asks employees for help. But don’t take our word for it, take Rueben Bronee’s.

Bronee coordinates employee engagement and communication for the province of British Columbia (or BC), which employs more than 30,000 people—more than any other company in the province. Last year, the province announced plans to be carbon neutral by 2010. That means it will drastically reduce its pollution, while offsetting what it cannot reduce by investing in “offset projects” like cleaner, more efficient energy and carbon sequestering. The sum of these efforts will equal zero carbon output.

There was a problem, though: BC was unsure how, exactly, it would reach that goal. So it looked for help internally.

“We tapped employees right away for ideas to help reduce greenhouse gas emission,” Bronee told Ragan.com . Through a series of employee communication initiatives, BC discovered how it would curb its carbon output—and maybe even boost engagement among its vast work force.

One initiative to reap green ideas