JUST certification for sustainable property consultancy

Sustainability-focused property consultancy Viridis Australasia has become the first organisation in Australia - and the 13th worldwide - to be awarded JUST certification. An initiative of the International Living Future Institute, JUST is a voluntary disclosure program and tool that acts as a call to social justice action for all types and sizes of organisations.

JUST provides a transparency platform for revealing an organisation’s operations, including how they treat their employees and where they make financial and community investments. As explained by Viridis Senior Associate Stephen Choi, the program “acts as a ‘nutrition label’ for socially just and equitable organisations”.

The JUST Label process requires organisations to not only bring difficult conversations to the table of senior staff, but calls for leadership and commitment from everyone - from the owner of the organisation all the way to the most junior members of the team.

The driving individual behind getting the certification, Choi admitted the JUST Program is “really challenging and incredibly broad”.

“It pushes us to start having genuine conversations about often-suppressed workplace gender inequities, or pay gaps between employees, or staff happiness,” he said.

According to Viridis CEO Jonathan Dalton, the JUST Label “sits very steadily at the heart of what we do and how we wish to operate”. He explained that the company provides project management, sustainability auditing and indoor environment health services to its clients.

Choi stated that he is glad Viridis has “been brave enough to take the initiative and commit to the hard work required to obtaining JUST certification”.

“Whilst we may be the first organisation in Australia to do so, we will by no means be the last,” he concluded.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Robert Churchill