What do cities, CEOs and collaboration have in common?

These were all events in October and November this year where industries and business came together to look at moving Australia towards an even better sustainable future.

We all recognise that certification is a viable and important vehicle and not the end result, but it can create simplicity from complexity and credibility amongst uncertainty. We need to link labels to credibility and cut through the complexity for procurers and consumers. Read more from our CEO, Kate, here.

GECA is proud to announce we are now a certified B Corporation! We look forward to collaborating and networking with other businesses who share our commitment to making sustainable choices and value the credibility of independent third-party certification.

Certified B Corporations meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include consideration of stakeholder interests, and build collective voice through the power of the unifying B Corporation brand.

You can see GECA's profile and Impact Report, showing how we scored against a range of criteria in the B Corp Impact Assessment, on the B Corp website.

GECA would like to thank all who voted for us in the 2015 Architecture & Design's Trusted Brands Survey. We came in at 41st place, and won our category (Environmental Products) overall - a very respectable result from the 500 nominated brands!

Part of what makes GECA so trustworthy is through working with third-party auditors and the requirement of on-site inspections as part of that auditing process. If your product has the GECA ecolabel, you can be confident that it's a powerful indicator of your commitment to sustainability.

Come and explore the future of sustainable production and consumption at GECA's own event, held in Sydney on 2 March 2016.

Find out how GECA is working to collaborate and drive the uptake of sustainable products and services, hear the latest key insights from Anna Scott's research into sustainable production and consumption in Australia, and learn more about the impacts of the new Sustainable Procurement standard ISO 20400.

Attendees at the event will have the chance to earn CPD points. More details to come, so save the date and watch this space!

Co-hosted annually by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the Property Council of Australia (Property Council), Green Cities is Australia’s premier sustainability conference for the built environment. GECA is pleased to be a Supporting Sponsor for 2016.

The event, held over 22 – 24 March 2016, will mark a decade of Green Cities, at the Hilton Sydney, with three days of practical site tours, hands-on masterclasses, networking events and inspiring speakers. For more details about Green Cities, head over to the website.

Sydney Build is the leading new Construction Expo for Sydney. Held over 10-11 March 2016, it's the ideal opportunity for your organisation to get involved in Sydney’s booming construction industry, and to access major contractors, developers and suppliers from Sydney and across Australia.

Hear from GECA's Kate Harris as she leads a workshop centred around alternative futures for design and infrastruture, as part of a series of workshops around sustainable building solutions. All workshops at the expo are free for visitors, and attendees will receive one CPD point.

Find out more about Sydney Build and register here - it's free to attend.

See your products used in lots of green building projects! Here is your opportunity to get in front of designers and builders who are on the lookout for innovative products. To find out more contact the team at SEE Sustainable Experience which is being held at Australian Technology Park in Sydney 21-23 July 2016. Call Anthony on 0413 803 987 or email the team here.

We're pleased to welcome two new licensees on board that have environmentally-preferable cleaning at the heart of their businesses.

Cleaning solutions manufacturer, Anotec Environmental, has been in the industry for 25 years. They specialise in odour control products with a lower environmental, health and social impact, with several products certified under GECA's Cleaning Products standard.

Zippy Cleaning & Maintenance Services is a family owned and operated commercial cleaning organisation based in South Australia. As well as maintaining clean and presentable premises for their clients, Zippy also assist clients with minimising their impact on the environment by managing waste and using environmentally safe cleaning products in their provision of services. The company is certified under GECA's Cleaning Services standard.

It's always great to see our licensees adding new products to their GECA certified ranges. Check out some of the new options below that now carry the GECA tick of approval for a lower environmental, health and social impact.

With enhancing the value of the GECA ecolabel in mind, our chair, Gordon Renouf, attended the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) Annual General Meeting and conference week in Hong Kong during November 2015.

New leadership, a growing membership, and development of a visionary strategy marked a buoyant mood at the annual general meeting of GEN, an organisation that represents almost 60 countries and territories.

This was a great opportunity for GECA to make better connections with other ecolabels around the world and to explore recent developments with labelling schemes, particularly in regards to managing our carbon footprint. Read more.

The GECA team wishes all of you a wonderful festive season and a happy new year! Our office will be closed from 21 December and we'll be back from 4 January 2016.

It's been another big year full of change and new growth for the organisation. You can read more about the highlights of 2015 in our Annual Review (pdf) and we're looking forward to another great year in 2016.

GECA would like to thank Bobby Ali-Khan for her passionate support and valuable contributions to GECA.

Bobby spent six years as a Director of the organisation, working as a member of the Board to build GECA into a leading independent non-profit in the field of sustainable production and consumption before moving into the role of National Business Development Manager in 2014.

We wish Bobby all the best for the future as she pursues new opportunities.