Mission:

Why are we in business? For us it is not just about making a profit. From day one, our desire has been to make people think about the world we live in. This is, and always will be, our main purpose.

With dwindling natural resources, climate change and Australia's inherent water shortages, it has never been more critical for Australians to get the most out of what we use. At Neco, we provide comprehensive goods and services that allow easy access to the most up to date solutions to these issues now affecting us all. Neco has established itself as a market leader by taking an unashamedly eco-entrepreneurial approach to a sector predominantly characterized by 'not for profit' organisations. We strive to bring a flair and dynamism to the marketplace by embracing and operating from the concepts of natural capitalism.

Vision:
Neco is now and will continue to grow as, the leading Australian specialist service provider in energy and water conservation, for residential and commercial settings. By offering thoughtful alternatives and through direct practical re- education, we hope to achieve a 40% reduction in household resource consumption over the next five years. As we think everyone is now realizing, this is essential if our world is to continue as we know it.

Our Values:
By standing by our quality, by giving a good honest service and by running our business along different lines to most, we have established Neco as a market leader. It's a slower way to build a company, but when we get a new customer they tend to stick with us. Our focus extends beyond the bottom line. Neco's genuine concern for its stakeholders has led to a value based philosophy that permeates all business decisions. Everyone wants to consume less resources and save money; we show them how to do it. We bring corporate and commercial professionalism to the eco industry. Neco's brand is mainstream, aimed at people who want to save money and be comfortable at home. The green message is the icing on the efficiency cake. For Neco it's just about doing things better. These elements have distinguished Neco as a market leader. Our clients recognise this and it is the foundation of our customer base. Through our business values, we want to participate in taking the world's economy into the next phase - the 'ecolution'. This means creating an economy that works in harmony with our planet; where business respects the values of the whole; that looks at the total cost of our actions; that is concerned about its supply chain, its staff, its customers and its social context. We believe real change can occur and a new way forward launched.

Who are we?
Neco was founded in March 2004 in response to the ever-increasing pressure that the modern economy places on the environment. Neco is now Australia's leading online eco store, with over 12 staff located in Blackburn, Victoria and in excess of 3500 eco products on offer. Neco's ethos is to provide products and services that are eco friendly yet stylish and functional. We believe that through the combination of smart technologies and smart design, our customers can live more comfortably and reduce their impact on the environment without compromising their desire to have a comfortable and stylish home. Neco is committed to only offering the highest quality eco products available. All our products are tested and rated before we stock them and our research and testing of new products we sell is an ongoing commitment. Products must prove to have a benefit over existing ones available. Our products also need to appeal to customers across the spectrum, from those interested in the aesthetic qualities of a product, to those purely interested in efficiency. Our goal is to become Australia's leading market provider for all things eco - a one-stop web shop for everyone's convenience. We are constantly striving to find new ways to get efficient products to the market. Our eco assessment service does this by educating people to look at their domestic and commercial surroundings differently - as an active environment with inputs and outputs. Neco is not simply a purveyor of water and energy efficient technologies. We take a comprehensive approach to sustainability. We have established ourselves as Australia's premier provider of eco assessments in a domestic and commercial context. Eco assessments aim to assist Australians in becoming more eco efficient by offering practical, cost efficient solutions to real world issues. By connecting people directly to their environments at home and in commercial settings, we achieve individualized, tailored and appropriate natural behavioural change. Given the rapid increase of pressures on our global eco-systems, environmental re-education through action is imperative if we are all to get on the road to responsible resource use.

Corporate and Social Responsibility:
Neco has a strong sense of its responsibility to its customers, the environment and the broader community in which we operate and live. We aim to minimise our impacts on the environment, while also achieving net positive outcomes wherever possible to help remediate the environment we live in. We believe that being more sustainable means adopting and implementing business practices that meet the needs of customers and staff, without compromising the resource needs of future generations. To do this Neco operates a three phase strategy to emissions reductions, namely Assess, Reduce and Offset. This strategy allows us to drive for continual improvement in our business processes and lead the industry, so others will continue to be educated by our actions and those of likeminded operations.

Assess:
By assessing our impacts, we can identify opportunities to reduce waste and improve efficiencies and services. Examples include reducing transport, packaging and office waste. When assessing our current operations, we include the impacts of our vehicle fleet, office, freight and flights. After we have streamlined processes and removed as much inefficiency as possible, we move to reduce our impacts.

Reduce:
We begin our carbon neutrality and other impacts by only selecting and selling minimal impact products, for example:
• our vehicle fleet is made up of hybrid Toyota Priuses
• our vans that run on biodiesel fuels where available
• we have shared electric pushbikes for use in the local area
• for other trips we have use of an all-electric motorbike (charged with our solar power)
• we minimise all flights and utilise technologies to support remote and home based work
• our offices run on solar power and offset using carbon abatement projects - the single most important thing that you can do to offset workplace greenhouse gas emissions.

Other initiatives include:
• we source products as locally as possible, and support Australian sustainable design
• all of our office furniture is recycled, reused or vintage
• we recycle our plastics, glass, paper, organic waste, and more
• our appliances are maximum star rated.
• our paints are all natural, minimising VOCs and improving the work environment for all staff
• we reuse packaging and cardboard on-site
• when offsetting our direct impacts, we include product shipping of products from overseas, so you can be sure that the net impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet is zero.

Offset:
Once we have reduced our impacts as much as is practical, we offset all tangible impacts. We assess and offset our direct impacts, as the indirect impacts are notoriously difficult to measure and control. To reduce those indirect impacts we ensure our supply chain is green. This includes only working with partners that exercise the most sustainable business practises. Neco expects that over time that carbon abatement price signals will become part of everyday product pricing and that embodied energy costs will be built into products at their point of purchase, which will make it possible for all consumers and companies to act more responsibility.