Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 36
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SPONSOR CONTENT
CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS (2025)
GHD employees champion sustainable change
S
tefania Goodrich joined
a small ecology team
with the global
professional services
firm GHD in Vancouver
less than four years ago. She found
the company’s work aligned with
her environmental principles. “It
was just me and a senior biologist
in Prince George,” says Goodrich,
an intermediate biologist. Now,
she is Western Canada regional
champion, their team has
expanded to 12 employees and it’s
continuing to grow.
GHD is a leading Australiafounded company operating in the
global markets of water, energy
and resources, environment,
property and buildings, and
transportation. Nearly a quarter of
employees own shares in the
business, which is 100-per-cent
employee owned.
future of energy, water and
communities. “It is integral to how
we make decisions on everything
from our enterprise strategy to risk
management to the types of
projects we pursue. We have
committed to a target of net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050, and we
ask our vendors about their
decarbonization strategy. Our
project selection standards outline
the types of projects we will no
longer do.”
Goodrich works on projects
such as sewer upgrades for
government infrastructure or
waste transfer stations for First
Nation communities. Her work in
the field doing plant and ecosystem surveys leads to
recommendations that funnel into
full environmental assessment
reports. She also does project
management with clients where
her team’s survey work leads to
recommendations on eliminating
invasive plants and replacing them
with native flora, as well as
protecting species at risk.
Assisting with the organization
of a yearly park or waterfront
clean up in Vancouver is one of
Goodrich’s favourite activities. She
spreads the word internally to
encourage a group of GHD
employees to take part, and the
municipality provides any
necessary equipment. “It’s an
opportunity to interact with local
people who are really pleased to
see us out there,” she says.
As Western Canada regional
champion, Goodrich meets
virtually with other GHD
champions across North America
to learn and share decarbonization strategies. She leads a team
with members in Calgary and
Edmonton to carry out regional
waste audits and recently worked
on a plan to update vehicle fleets
for each office. “We had to find a
balance, choosing vehicles that are
sustainable but safe for fieldwork
in the middle of nowhere,” she
says.
Goodrich is proud of waste
reduction efforts in the Vancouver
office. There, they not only do
regular recycling but they also
Sustainability is built into
what we do, why we do it
and how we do it.
— James Viray
Global Head of Corporate
Sustainability
“Sustainability is built into what
we do, why we do it and how we
do it,” says James Viray, global
head of corporate sustainability.
“What makes GHD sustainable is
our work on environmental issues
such as water conservation and
resilient ecosystems — plus the
social component around human
rights, including Indigenous
engagement in Canada.”
Viray says the foundation of the
work GHD does is to focus on the
GHD focuses on sustainability through its work on environmental issues like water conservation and ensuring
resilient ecosystems across Canada.
