You Need a Strategy!
For some larger orginisations there is a need to create a stratey, or devise a plan, to achieve carbon neutrality. These businesses recognise that it may take some time to achieve but there are benefits to business in announcing the plan. We have devised a 6 point carbon strategy to step you through the process and assist you in communicating it to your marketplace
The strategy is similar to a mission statement about what your organisation is doing about the issue and what you would like to achieve. It is a statement about the journey you are undertaking and what you intend to do in regard to your environmental emissions (footprint). This strategy then becomes an overriding environmental policy which can support many other sustainable practices.
The details of your actual strategy is then conveyed to others via a Carbon Balanced Statement which summarises your approach to Carbon Neutrality. By setting a benchmark year and using the Emissions Inventory Report to compare any carbon reduction schemes introduced, this provides a measurable indicator of the success of the schemes and there impacts. This continual accountability of your emmissions and any reductions becomes an ongoing process of calculating, refining, and reducing. Ultimately leading to ever more sustainble business practices.
6 Point Carbon Strategy
The 6 point Carbon Balance Strategy is designed as a guideline and implementation process to assist your organisation in achieving your strategic objectives. We partner you in managing the process and assist you in resourcing the solutions needed.
1. Educate & Inform
- Create awareness within your organisations of the need to take action on issues concerning global warming.
We can provide a comprehensive, scientifically based argument confirming that global warming has been identified as a result of anthropogenic effects on the planet.
2. Identify & Evaluate
- Conduct an emissions audit to identify your organisations Carbon Footprint (Scope 1, 2 & 3).
The art of a robust Carbon Balanced Statement is in the diligence taken to complete an approved audit that follows GHG Protocol procedures. We have created a detailed audit trail which we send to you to complete internally. Once this is done we convert the figures to give you a reading of total kg’s of CO2-e emitted. This is your Emmissions Inventory Report and calculates your Carbon Footprint, identifying where your business emits greenhouse gases.
3. Communicate
- Inform internally and externally.
To inform both your staff and your marketplace of your ‘carbon strategy’ we have in place a set of communication tools to convey your message. Our tools will assist you in communicating your strategy and demonstrate your corporate responsibility towards climate change. The benefits to business may not be obvious at first but can be a powerfull marketing and decision making process that can bring about a competative advantage.
4. Reducing the Imbalance
- Initiate more sustainable practices designed at reducing your imprint.
Now that we have worked out your carbon imprint the real task of reducing your emissions begins so that next year your carbon responsibility is less. We assist you in sourcing more sustainable solutions and measuring the improvements. This can also bring upon a culture change as staff are often pro-actively engaged in sustainability issues.
5. Re-Balance
- Align the organisation with the right carbon offsetting program.
What cant be reduced then gets offset. We suggest to you what is the right carbon mix of offset programs that suit your needs. Whether renewable energy, bio-sequestration, land reduction or emissions flaring. We can advise you a range of carbon offset solutions to suit your needs.
6. Monitoring
- Yearly monitoring of carbon reductions via annual audits.
We hold the registrar of your yearly environmental imprint, your offsets, and the projects implemented per year as we reach towards your strategic target. C.B.C. documents all this for auditing and accountability purposes to validate the strategic claim.
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Gaining a Green Competitive Advantage
Those innovative businesses that adopt early strategies will be seen as leaders in their field and will gain significant goodwill from consumers and the marketplace. It offers opportunity for increase publicity and to attract a more green, conscious consumer.
Responding to climate change by becoming carbon neutral will inform your customers of the efforts you have embarked on and can be of considerable competitive advantage over other companies. Because we use an approved audit methodology as set out by the WRI your Carbon Balanced Statement is robust and assures you against any concerns of ‘greenwashing’ your reputation.
Customer Awareness
The consumer is becoming more aware of the need to chose products and services that are more sustainable and are actively seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem. A recent report* on Australian consumers found the following:
- Climate change is a 'front-of mind' issue for individuals in Australia
- 63% say they would rather do business with companies that are working to reduce their contribution to global warming than other companies.
- 72% said that companies should give more information to consumers about how products (and services) contribute to global warming.
- 78%want green (environmental claims), to be backed up by proof from independent third parties.
The overarching sentiment is that "consumers take notice of companies that take a responsible approach to energy and climate, rewarding responsibility with trust and goodwill." (What Assures Consumers in Australia on Climate Change Net Balance Foundation 2008)
Our communication tools allow you to reach out and inform customers of your status and inform them the process you’ve undertaken. Our reports and logo's consolidate your green credentials or signify to consumers your new awareness and commitment to environmental concerns. This contributes to your corporate and social responsibility.
Business Opportunities
As more and more businesses go down the path of identifying their emissions and calculating how others in their supply chain effect their own inventory. The need to engage other businesses that are carbon neutral to reduce their total footprint will become attractive.
By calculating the emissions generated in Scope 3 (indirect emissions created on your behalf) it indicates others that you need to compensate for. If your supply chain (both inputs & outputs) were carbon neutral then your overall footprint would be less. This can be a powerful reason to influence, or encourage, others in your supply chain to become carbon neutral and thus reduce your overall footprint.
This benefit can be reflected in tenders having a preference for carbon neutral businesses or requirements that your business is not significantly contributing to their indirect emissions.
Your Emissions Inventory Report can be a positive tool to alleviate concerns that others may have over how much carbon you emit on their behalf. Taking responsibility for your Carbon Footprint can actually become a valuable asset in generating business, promoting it to your consumers and assisting in restoring the balance between business needs and the sustainability of the planet.
Staff Moral
Because their is such growing concern within the community relating to climate change issues, staff are often passionate about facilitating this type of change. They feel a greater sense of purpose and empowerment to be involved with a company that has a climate change policy .
Audit Methodology & Standards used
The strength of the message is bound in the strength of the audit’
The process we follow is prescribed by the Department of Climate Change (Aust) which has released a document outlining the requirements needed to conduct an audit and the factors that need to be included in the calculations. This document is called the NGA Factors and Methods Workbook 2008.
The factors from this workbook are harmonised with the international reporting framework developed by the World Resources Institute & World Business Council for Sustainable Development known as The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The combination of these standards delivers to you current best practices for Australian emissions and international reporting.
Carbon Neutrality (Carbon Balanced)
A carbon neutral claim can mean a number of things to different people. Our definition is based on two different approaches:
- Business Operational Level
-
Product or Event
Business Operations: The emissions generated from the operational activities of the company have been calculated (Operational Footprint). Includes any third party inputs from those company that help with the total operations of the business (i.e 3rd party transportation of goods)
Product or Event : The emissions associated with the embedded energy in the product ( i.e raw materials and packaging etc) have been calculated and are included in the calculations. This is often referred to as an LCA ( Life Cycle Analysis)
Best practices carbon neutrality
- Carbon Strategy & motivation is understood
- Either Operational emissions and or LCA approach used
- NGA Factors and Methods 2008 (aust) used
- Transparent reporting using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol
- Emission reductions made or identified
- Accredited carbon offsets purchased
- Effective communication of status (avoid greenwashing)
For an organisation to claim Carbon Neutrality the audit must capture Scope 1 & 2, and ideally includes the significant Scope 3 emissions. It needs to be conducted using an approved methodology and must be transparent and available. The audit will reveal the total amount of CO2 emissions (CO2-e) created and this is your carbon ‘footprint’.
Once your footprint has been reduced and any remaining emissions offset, only then can your organisation claim Carbon Neutrality. We create a report outlining the approach and standards used which becomes your Carbon Balanced Statement and defines the standards and processes followed in achieving this.
This statement then becomes your explanation of how your company achieved carbon neutrality and can be viewed via your website or in annual reports.
Scopes
There are clearly defined boundaries or ‘Scopes’ as outlined in the GHG Protocol as developed by the World Resources Institute, who have created the definitions for conducting audits. The scopes are references that a business needs to consider in capturing their carbon footprint.
Our Emmissions Inventory Report indentifies the emmission source and defines what scope it belongs to;
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources within the boundary of an organisation such as fuel combustion and manufacturing processes.
Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam or heat produced by another organisation. Scope 2 emissions result from the combustion of fuel to generate the electricity, steam or heat and do not include emissions associated with the production of fuel.
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that are a consequence of an organisation’s activities but are not from sources owned or controlled by the organisation. Whilst being optional Scope 3 offers the greatest transparency in its inventory and creates a larger scope of potential influence.
SCOPE 1 DIRECT EMISSIONS
- Combustion of fuel in boilers or furnaces that are owned by the reporting organization
- Generation of electricity, steam, or heat in equipment that is owned by the reporting organization
- Business travel in vehicles that are owned by the reporting company, such as company cars or corporate jets.
- Employee commuting in company-owned vehicles, such as a van pool or company car
SCOPE 2 INDIRECT EMISSIONS
- Generation of purchased electricity, steam, or heat
SCOPE 3 INDIRECT EMISSIONS
- Business travel in non-company-owned vehicles such as rental cars, employee cars, trains, and commercial planes
- Combustion of fuel in boilers or furnaces not owned by the reporting organization
- Employee commuting in vehicles not owned by the reporting organization, such as light rail, train, buses, and employee cars
- Production or manufacture of materials and resources used by an office organization, such as furniture, paper, equipment, toner cartridges, etc.
- Incineration of office waste or decomposition in a landfill when the facilities are not owned by the reporting organization*
- Any outsourced activities such as shipping, courier services, cleaning and printing services
