GECA - 2021 Wrap Up

As we come to the end of another year full of unpredictability and pause to reflect, I can see many positive changes and a real shift in some vital areas.

While there is so much more that we need to achieve, globally, nationally and locally, to tackle the key sustainability issues of our time – people, governments and businesses are sitting up and taking notice. We must catalyse this shift to keep the momentum going in the right direction!

A year in review

At GECA, we have spent a lot of time reflecting this year too on some core questions such as:

• How do we ensure our lifecycle ecolabel standards remain relevant to ever-changing industries?

• Which new best practices can we incorporate into our ecolabel and other services?

• How can we better collaborate with our stakeholders to be more influential with our collective voice?

• Are there new gaps in the market that we have solutions for?

• In short, how can we at GECA best make an overall impact?

2021 has been a year of many developments. Click the infographic below to download our Annual Review for more details on these exciting milestones!

Collaboration remains key

As always, we are truly reliant on relationships and collaborations at GECA. Being a small team, we rely on the support of many and without whom we would not be where we are today. I want to personally thank those of you that have continued to support our work.

Thank you to our Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) and our Standards Committee members. They provide us with their expertise and valuable time to ensure our standards remain best practice.

A substantial heart-felt thanks to the GECA Board for their valuable input into our strategic direction, with a special mention to our Chair Patrick Walker for his ongoing indispensable guidance.

We continued to work closely with our long-standing collaborators, WWF-Australia, EPD Australasia, Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), Supply Chain Sustainability School, and the UN Global Compact. You’ll find details on how we’re working together for a better future for people and planet in our Annual Review.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA), and the Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA). Thank you for your ongoing recognition and support!

My final acknowledgement goes to our family of licensees. We know the effort required to make lasting sustainable change across supply chains, but the world needs industry leaders to step up and make that change. We are lucky to have a network of licensees who want to be those leaders and drive that change. We love recognising those achievements through our service offerings.

Team GECA continues to evolve

The GECA team has seen some changes over the last year, with us bidding farewell to Dr Sahar Farzadnia and Deepali Ghadge. Both Sahar and Deepali’s contributions to GECA were considerable. We thank them for their commitment and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours.

We have also had the pleasure of onboarding some new faces to the GECA team. This year we welcomed Karina Schlieper, who has been volunteering with GECA for the past year. As our new Project Officer, Karina uses her marketing expertise and project implementation skills to contribute to lasting change for a more sustainable Australia.

We also welcomed chemical engineer, Dr Joel Tan as our new Standards & Technical Officer. He brings a wealth of experience in hazardous waste management services and environmental and water technology research and development.

And most recently, Shahin Chandriyakat as our new LCA, Standards & Technical Officer! Shahin assists with creating Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). She also supports developing and revising GECA’s lifecycle ecolabel standards.

I want to extend my gratitude to the entire GECA team. They continue to be some of the most passionate individuals I have ever met, always going the extra mile to support our licensees, various projects, and solutions for a more sustainable planet!

I am excited about the opportunities for growth and improvement that the next year holds. We invite you to join us as we take a deep dive into refreshing our lifecycle ecolabel standards, continue to deliver tools to support our collaborators, and provide continuously improving pathways for a more sustainable future.