Our Principles & Environmental Policy
Our vision is to improve the built environment, while reducing its environmental impact.
It is more apparent than ever that concerted effort from industry is needed for the abatement of climate change.
Our company was founded on this idea twenty ago, and efforts to keep New Zealand a clean, green, beautiful country are at the heart of what we do.
Our vision is embedded in the way we work via our Principles & Environmental Policy.
Our Principles
Design and Consultancy. We provide our customers with high-quality, effective solutions that have low environmental impact.
In every project, we will strive to find a cost-effective way of reducing resources and minimising emissions, without compromise.People. We are committed to working together to achieve the goals laid out in this policy. Every employee brings their own individual ideas and passions to the projects we are involved in, and the business as a whole.
Profitability. We believe in making a difference to New Zealand, and this would be impossible without profitability and growth of the company. However, our aim is not to become the biggest consultancy - just the best in what we do.
Environmental. We are continually seeking ways in which we can minimise our effect on the environment, through our work and in our everyday lives. We bring environmental sustainability to every project and similarly encourage the project teams and individuals we work with.
Ethical. We will not tolerate social injustice. We respect all of our colleagues, partners and clients, irrespective of race, gender, religion, sexuality, disability or health status.
Equality. Everyone has a voice and is encouraged to contribute their thoughts. Our leaders are expected to act fast and effectively, but listen and respect the views of everyone.
Community. We consider social and cultural aspects in every project, and seek solutions that bring people closer to each other and their surroundings.
Partnership. We believe partnership is important in achieving our vision, and actively seek collaboration with those who endeavour to develop and adapt. We will not do business with those who are opposed to change.
Accountability. We will act ethically, effectively and be fully accountable for our actions. We will set clear targets which we will strive to meet.
Passion. We are passionate about what we do, and determined to succeed in our mission.
Our carbon reduction journey
Measuring, reducing and taking responsibility for our impact
At eCubed, we believe that providing sustainable building design services also means taking responsibility for the environmental impact of our own business.
In 2022, eCubed began its Toitū carbon certification journey, using 2022 - 2023 as our base year. Over the following four assessed years, we measured our greenhouse gas emissions, identified where our biggest impacts were coming from and put practical measures in place to reduce them.
We initially achieved Toitū Net Carbon Zero certification before moving to Toitū Carbon Reduce. The change reflected our desire to focus on reducing our actual emissions rather than relying on carbon offsets.
Measuring our progress
The Toitū process required us to measure our operational greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with ISO 14064-1. This included emissions associated with areas such as electricity, vehicles, business travel, waste and paper.
Having a clear baseline gave us something against which to measure our progress and helped us understand where changes would make the greatest difference.
Our 2022 base year footprint was 41.04 tCO₂e.
By 2025–26, our measured footprint had reduced to 25.02 tCO₂e - a 39% reduction from our base year.
We also developed longer-term, science-based reduction targets to help guide our approach to reducing emissions.
2022 → 2025–26
41.04 tCO₂e → 25.02 tCO₂e
39% reduction
Changing the way we travel
One of the most significant changes for eCubed was the way we thought about travel.
Rather than simply measuring our travel emissions, we became more conscious of the choices behind them. As a team, we looked at when travel was genuinely necessary, how we travelled and whether there were lower-emission alternatives.
This included a conscious effort to reduce our reliance on diesel vehicles.
The value of this change went beyond the numbers in our carbon footprint. It demonstrated that measuring emissions can lead to changes in everyday decision-making and encouraged us to think differently about the environmental consequences of our choices.
A team effort
Our carbon reduction journey has been a whole-of-business effort.
The process required commitment from everyone at eCubed, from understanding how individual activities contribute to our footprint through to making different choices in our day-to-day work.
We are proud of the overall achievement, but particularly of the commitment shown by our staff. Reducing our footprint wasn't something that could be achieved by one person or through a single initiative, it required people across the business to consciously change the way they approached travel, energy use and other aspects of our operations.
Completing the journey
After four assessed years, we made the decision to withdraw from the Toitū certification programme.
This isn't because we have lost interest in reducing our emissions. Quite the opposite. We made the decision because we had achieved the goals, we had set ourselves through the programme and felt that the most valuable part of the process, measuring our footprint, understanding our impacts and making meaningful reductions, had been achieved.
Our time with Toitū gave us a robust baseline, independent assessment and a framework for making measurable progress. Most importantly, it changed the way we think about our own environmental impact.
Although we are no longer Toitū certified, we will continue to apply what we have learned to the way we operate.
For eCubed, sustainability isn't just something we recommend to our clients. We believe in looking at our own operations too, being honest about our impacts and making practical changes where we can.
We are proud of what we achieved through our four-year carbon reduction journey and particularly of the commitment of our people to making it happen.
Our Environmental Policy
The following policy framework functions in-line with our ten principles listed above.
This policy will be reviewed regularly and reports made available for all employees, clients, contractors and project team colleagues.
We will:
Comply with all environmental legislation, standards and other requirements with which we subscribe.
Endeavour to provide designs that will be effective, efficient and minimise environmental impact.
Respect the environment and act to reduce our impact on it.
Continually improve the environmental performance of the company.
Maintain a monitoring programme and regular reporting of the environmental performance of the company.
Provide environmental training for the company and promote individual and collective responsibility for the environment.