Environmental Choice New Zealand has boosted its building sector knowledge with the appointment of Rohan Bush, Manager – Affordable Housing at Auckland Council, to its Board of Trustees.
Environmental Choice is New Zealand’s official environmental label. More than 60 New Zealand businesses with some 1,700 products and services are licensed under the ecolabel including many building products.
Having spent six years with the New Zealand Green Building Council and across the ditch at Sustainability Victoria, a statutory authority with a board appointed by the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Bush brings ample experience to the role.
Bush has worked in the public and private sectors and has a range of skills including strategic planning, project and design management, property development and stakeholder engagement.
She says she will draw on her building industry experience, including experience as a property professional with qualifications in architecture, building science and sociology/political science, to add value to the board.
“In my current role I focus on housing specifically residential development. I focus on how we can meet Aucklanders’ needs for safe, secure and healthy housing. I am interested in creating better built environments with sustainable practices and affordability at the heart.”
Bush believes Environmental Choice plays a critical role for as customers and consumers become more environmentally conscious and drive change, businesses must adapt or be left behind.
“In New Zealand, sustainability is becoming part of the mainstream. There is increasing consumer demand for more sustainable products and services and that it will only increase.
“It’s important there is a system businesses can hook into and consumers can feel confident the standards are high and the work has been done,” she says.
“Environmental Choice does important work as they take complex information and requirements and create specifications businesses can use. I have seen the technical specifications and the process has real impact on New Zealand environments.”
Bush is the most recent appointment to a changing board. In September 2015 ECNZ appointed Karen McDonald, Deputy CEO and Head of Marketing and Business Development at Consumer New Zealand and Hans Buwalda, environment, health and safety consultant (formerly of Fletcher Building) have recently joined the board.
In addition, Kim Calvert, Country Manager, New Zealand for Cottonsoft Limited is the stakeholder representative.
Environmental Choice is New Zealand’s official environmental label for products and services, owned and endorsed by The Ministry for the Environment. It uses multi-criteria lifecycle assessment that is independently verified by third-party auditors.
It is the only Type I ecolabel in New Zealand and is managed by the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust at no cost to the government.
