This past financial year has once again proven to be one with challenges and further realisation of the fragility of the world we live in, with the continuing pandemic disruptions, disturbing unrest in Ukraine and international climate reports calling for immediate action.
At GECA, we have embraced the challenges and adapted where possible. This year, we have taken the opportunity to reflect on our offerings and look at ways to ensure more efficient continual improvement and consistency in our standards.
We have commenced our GECA standards strategy, comprehensively reviewing how our standards can remain consistent across all our product and service categories and align better with external schemes and international partners. We aim to ensure even greater recognition for our licensees. It’s an exciting process and the most significant holistic review of our ecolabel standards since our conception. We hope the redesign will address our licensee, partner, and stakeholders’ requirements and ensure that GECA remains a sustainability leader.
We further embraced our love of continuous improvement by completing an independent peer review of our GECA scheme. As part of our membership in the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN), our ecolabel program is reviewed every five years. Conducted by GEN’s Internationally Coordinated Ecolabelling System (GENICES), the review provides independent verification that GECA continues to align with ISO 14024 principles. And we are proud to say we completed a successful review this year, with GECA receiving recognition for this at the last GEN AGM.
GECA is also a certified B Corporation. We completed our recertification in early 2021 and received recognition as one of the Best For The World™ B Corps in the impact area of governance. We’re incredibly proud of the governance structures we have put in place, as they ensure we are continually adhering to our values of integrity, independence and impact.
“Great results can only be achieved through teamwork, and my thanks go to everyone who contributed to such an excellent year. To our CEO Michelle Thomas and all of Team GECA – thank you for being so passionate about making a difference and for your resilience and good cheer despite the many challenges 2022 has thrown at us!” – Patrick Walker, GECA Chair.
The fabulous people we work with are at the heart of everything we do! I want to thank our passionate #TeamGECA, our amazing licensees who continue to lead the way with more sustainable practices and solutions, and our wonderful collaborators.
We have said a fond farewell to a few valued GECA team members over the past year who have chosen to embark on new adventures within the field of sustainability. We would wholeheartedly like to thank, bid a fond farewell and wish the best of luck in their future endeavours to Rodrigo Martinez, Marlene Brueton, Dr Joel Tan, Judith Schinabeck, and Paula Clasby.
And with farewell and growth, we have been lucky to welcome some exciting new team members to GECA! Jasmin Lewis, Dr Shadia Moazzem, Shelby Kerr and Jacqui Wagar have been welcomed into the team and have already proved extremely valuable to GECA. Watch this space as the team continues to grow.
Overall, it has been a positive, busy year for GECA, and our ongoing plans for continual improvement will ensure a more impactful, supportive and collaborative way forward.
