Applied Environment & Safety is a Certified Carbon Neutral Company
Applied Environment & Safety is proud to announce our certification as a certified carbon neutral company through Climate Active. Applied Environment & Safety joins a growing network of organisations committed to reducing their environmental impact. Achieving a carbon neutral operating status.
Our carbon neutral status is based on a certification process that involves five key steps.
- Create an emissions boundary
Defining the scope of our carbon emissions to be measured. What emissions are relevant and reasonably accountable for our business operations?
- Calculate annual carbon emissions
Collect data and undertake verification to quantify our annual carbon emissions. How do we best record our emissions within our emissions boundary?
- Set an emissions reductions strategy
Set targeted, measurable carbon reduction strategies based on our main emissions contributors. How can we reduce our emissions in the future?
- Offset emissions
Purchasing of carbon offsets in reforestation and re-planting projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere equivalent to the amount created by our operations. How much carbon do we need to offset to achieve net zero emissions?
- Ongoing certification and improvement
Ensuring ongoing Climate Active certification and review of performance against our emissions reduction targets and opportunities for further reductions. Are we meeting our reduction goals and how can we further reduce our emissions?
Our Carbon Neutral Journey
Our journey began in 2019 while reflecting upon our business operations and environmental impacts. Due to the nature of our service-based operations, we concluded that our environmental impact would best be quantified and mitigated through a reduction of our carbon footprint.
Setting our Emissions Boundary
The first step to achieving our carbon neutral status involved establishing an ‘emissions boundary’, essentially identifying our emissions sources. We worked closely with Sustainable Business Consultants a registered Climate Active consultant to form our emissions boundary.
To identify our emissions sources, we analysed each aspect of our business operations. Firstly, our office based operations, which revealed several emissions sources. These sources were primarily relating to energy consumption such as lighting, heating and cooling, and electronics. Secondly, working from our client’s workplaces and construction sites, which is where our largest emissions are generated. This is predominantly due to flights and other transport.
Calculating our Carbon Emissions
Once our emissions boundary had been set, we then calculated our total annual carbon emissions for our base year in 2020. We used records to calculate our emissions including; flight, accommodation itineraries, energy usage records, vehicle logbooks, ride share, public transport logs, waste generation data and more. To ensure accuracy for our office emissions, we considered time spent at each location. Emissions that were not able to quantify, for example, water usage. These were included a 5% uplift on our overall emissions to ensure these were accounted for in our base year.
With our base year emissions data calculated, we then had our data verified by an independent third-party consultant (Sustainable Business Consultants) to confirm our calculations were accurate. Once confirmed, we had our 2020 base year carbon emissions total.
Our Emissions Reduction Strategy
By simply understanding our carbon emission sources we were then able to plan our future reduction strategy. We are committed to reducing our future emissions meeting specific targets based on our primary emission sources. This includes increasing local business opportunities, therefore reducing travel & flight related emissions, direct offsets for flights, solar energy production, and utilising other carbon neutral products/services where possible.
Offsetting our Carbon Emissions
After our base year carbon emissions had been calculated and verified, we sought to offset our emissions by supporting Australian reforestation & re-planting projects. This would help remove our carbon contributions from the atmosphere.
Partnering with Carbon Neutral, Applied Environment & Safety now proudly supports the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor project, a large-scale reforestation and habitat restoration project in Western Australia. The project involves reforestation of degraded land by revegetating the landscape with native trees and shrubs. Therefore, encouraging wildlife to return while at the same time removing carbon from the atmosphere. The project seeks to create a 200km green corridor reconnecting remnant vegetation with 12 nature reserves across 10,000 km2.
Our current contributions to the project enable the offset of 35 tonnes of carbon; more than double our 2020 annual emissions.
Climate Active Certification
We have now successfully established our emissions boundary, calculated our base year emissions, offset our emissions, and set a future emissions reduction strategy. The final step in our carbon neutral journey was to submit and formally join the Climate Active network to become a certified carbon neutral company.
Climate Active is an Australian Government initiative and organisation that certifies businesses, products, services and events as carbon neutral. By achieving Climate Active certification, we join a collective group of companies committed to environmental sustainability by reducing carbon emissions and climate change impacts.
What does Carbon Neutral really mean for us?
We believe in leading by example and promoting environmental sustainability. Now operating as a carbon neutral organisation, this further demonstrates our commitment to environmental sustainability. Our Climate Active certification ensures we are accountable for our carbon footprint and has allowed us to formalise our sustainability goals.
Although our emissions are relatively low, we recognise the value of doing our part to offset our carbon footprint. We are proud to part of a collective group of organisations dedicated to climate solutions for our future.
Further following our Climate Active accreditation; our goal is to continually improve our operations and work toward our carbon emissions reduction strategy. We seek to maintain our carbon neutral status and look forward to our continued involvement in carbon offsetting, reforestation, and biodiversity projects.
Our clients can have confidence that by working with us, they are supporting our carbon neutral operations and having a net zero impact on climate change.
For more details on our carbon neutral journey including our future emissions reduction strategy; view our Climate Active Public Disclosure Statement.
Become a Certified Carbon Neutral Company
Are you considering starting your own journey toward becoming a certified carbon neutral company? Interested, inspired, or wondering where to begin? Visit the Climate Active website or chat to us today about our journey.