by Danielle King, Green Moves Australia

Be part of the Climate Solution – go Carbon Neutral

By Danielle King, Founder, Green Moves Australia

If we are to solve the problem of climate change, we need to reduce our carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030. To achieve that, we all need to act, and we need to act now. It starts by taking responsibility for your emissions and making efforts to reduce them. This is what makes you part of the solution

Businesses and organisations have realised that acting on climate is critical to their success. Consumers and businesses are now showing a preference to work with companies that are carbon neutral. And being carbon neutral brings rewards in terms of market differentiation, increased revenue, reduced costs, reduced risk , stakeholder engagement, and demonstrates you ‘walk the talk’ on taking climate action.

But what does ‘going carbon neutral’ really mean?

In short, it’s about having a balance between what carbon your business emits (through doing business), and what you absorb form the atmosphere (through reduction and offset strategies). To achieve that balance, you need to measure your emissions, reduce what you can and offset what is left. The result is a carbon neutral business. There are standards that any legitimate claim should be made against. They are the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Australian Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard.

Both are freely available online. Measuring the business emissions takes time, but you can’t manage what you don’t measure and this is the first step. This involves looking at what it takes for your business to operate and puts a different lens on its efficiency. It will include what’s called an ‘inventory’ or ‘footprint’ and should include all relevant emissions. Once measured, the next steps include defining reduction strategies to reduce those emissions, purchasing offsets to ‘neutralise’ what you can’t reduce, and being transparent about your emissions and the offsets used. Carbon emissions should be treated like financial accounts – done every year.

If you’d like to know more, Danielle is presenting a webinar on this topic for Design Matters National Members, on 16 November.

Register here: https://bit.ly/3lKITnz

Businesses and organisations have realised that acting on climate is critical to their success. Consumers and businesses are now showing a preference to work with companies that are carbon neutral.