How Sense became carbon neutral
We’re extremely proud to announce that Sense is now officially a carbon neutral business, certified by the government-backed Climate Active program.
Climate change is the single most important issue of our time. Here at Sense, we believe that it’s our responsibility as an organisation to do whatever we can to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing our carbon footprint.
To achieve Climate Active certification we had to reach net-zero carbon emissions. This means that the activities associated with running Sense now have no net negative impact on the climate, which is a pretty good reason to be proud!
Many steps to carbon neutral
We began in 2018/2019 by calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions Sense was creating. This was a tricky process, but thankfully we had our very own Climate Warrior Sue O’Neill to crunch the numbers. Sue provided data that was then supplied to Pangolin Associates, who we commissioned to produce an assessment. Their report showed that Sense generated 75 tonnes of emissions that year.
The next step was to offset our emissions by purchasing credits in projects that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, remove them from the atmosphere or prevent their release.
Then we set about reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible. By switching our electricity to 100% Greenpower, implementing a strict recycling program, reducing consumption and choosing the most sustainable options when we must consume, we managed to get our emissions down to 44 tonnes the following year – a net total reduction of 42 per cent!
It must be said that Melbourne’s lockdown made a positive contribution. With everyone working from home our employee commute emissions reduced significantly.
To offset our new emissions level of 44 tonnes we again purchased credits. For this year we chose to invest in two projects that have an environmental focus while also offering wider health, economic and social benefits for their local communities.
Wind Power in India
This project has created 32 wind turbine generators in Rajasthan. It has also provided health care services to around 600 people across four villages, through medical assistance and programmes raising awareness of nutrition, hygiene and ante-natal/post-natal care.
PNG Rainforest Other Land Use (AFOLU) initiative
This project aims to ends deforestation from unsustainable logging practices in the island province of New Ireland. It is working to mitigate the effects of climate change and protect PNG’s rich and increasingly threatened biodiversity.
The final step was to apply to become certified carbon neutral through the Climate Active program. Pangolin Consultants guided us through this process, which included an audit of our data. Audits are never fun, but we passed. Each year we will continue to take this extra step to certification.
The benefits of being a carbon-neutral business are many. Apart from the obvious environmental benefit, we expect that our expenditure on energy and consumables will reduce as a result of the measures we’ve introduced.
Another significant benefit is simply the pride in achieving something meaningful that we all feel here at Sense. Hopefully, many more Australian businesses will choose to be carbon neutral, and get to enjoy the same feeling.
Thanks again to Sue for all her hard work pulling together our application, and to our people, clients and suppliers for your ongoing support.
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