Australian offices are taking the lead in tackling climate change with green office floor space now covering three million square metres, or the equivalent footprint of Uluru – the world’s largest rock formation.

The CitySwitch Green Office energy-efficiency program represents over 12 per cent of all Australia’s CBD office space and helps companies significantly cut carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy and waste costs.

The latest addition to the City of Sydney led national program is Melbourne’s Green Steps consultancy, contributing 1,000 square metres in floor space.

Green Steps is a not-for-profit environmental consulting and training provider based at Monash Sustainable Institute offering climate-conscious training to companies.

Green Steps has committed to improving their energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and improving their recycling rates using the tools available through CitySwitch.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore congratulated CitySwitch on reaching the impressive milestone representing a significant commitment from commercial offices to a smarter, greener future.

“Around 80 per cent of the emissions from cities come from commercial office buildings so if we’re serious about the war on climate change, that’s the front line,” the Lord Mayor said.

“In the past twelve months, CitySwitch members have launched 1,463 sustainability projects, reported an average accredited NABERS rating of 4.1 stars and purchased 296,600 tonnes of carbon credits, detailed in the program’s annual progress report.

“Three million square metres is a terrific result for the program – the same size as Uluru which takes three and a half hours to walk around.

“These fantastic results are a real credit to Australia’s forward-thinking businesses for recognising climate leadership as a means of producing office efficiencies while making savings to their own bottom line.”

The program currently has 730 offices on board with signatories making a commitment to develop a structured pathway to energy efficiency, with a target of a 4-star or above performance rating.

Green Steps business development associate, Kate Smith, said becoming a CitySwitch member shows a commitment to improving energy efficiency.

“It’s encouraging to be on this journey with other organisations,” Ms Smith said. “As an organisation that provides sustainability training, it’s important that we walk the talk and lead by example.”

At the recent CitySwitch national awards, companies were recognised for environmental excellence, including CitySwitch national signatory of the year, West Australian Local Government Association and NSW new signatory of the year, Bupa.