Any business can make a significant and meaningful contribution to minimising our collective environmental footprint. We’ve been looking cumulatively at at our company’s impacts and how we can continue to work on sustainable practices and reducing our carbon footprint into the future. For an office-based company like ourselves that contribution could be in a direct or indirect form.

Businesses can look at direct reductions in emissions through our transport and electricity usage, smarter choices about consumables, and changes around procurement decisions and asset management (e.g. vehicles, laptops, phones, equipment etc.). It can also be about a more engaged approach to recycling and re-use; offsetting small bits of waste – in our offices and personal lives – that really add up over time and would otherwise be destined for landfill.

We’ve written about a few initiatives and changes we’ve put in place over the years, including our company keep-cup analysis (read our blog here) and partnership with Climate Clever, who have an app that helps businesses and individuals to understand their own specific emission reduction opportunities and savings. Even our decision to move to the Flux offices in Perth back in 2017 was partially informed by the potential to further reduce our carbon footprint.

In an indirect sense, we’ve been investing in a greener world by putting some of our profits back into tree plantings and habitat restoration, which in turn is offsetting our carbon emissions. Last year we worked with the Carbon Neutral team to analyse our emissions and to become a carbon neutral company through the use of Gold Standard certified offsets. To offset some 38 tonnes of carbon we generated last year, mainly through commuting and air travel, we contributed to biodiverse planting and reforestation of the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor. For many years, we have also combined e-Christmas cards with the planting of individual trees as part of that certified reforestation program.

So how does that all add up? Well cumulatively speaking, from 2009-2021 we have offset 95 tonnes of CO2 emissions and planted 978 trees. Those trees are not only a ‘carbon sink’ for decades to come, they also provide important shelter and food for native wildlife in land that has previously been cleared.  We see our bit as a great achievement and contributing to something meaningful; but we also understand there is plenty more we could be doing.

Native tree planting (left) is a program we couple with our company Christmas e-cards, while CO2 offsets (right certificate) is an annual contribution based on analysis of our emissions.

We know this is a long-term game. It is a reality that running a business comes with a carbon footprint; but with a little reflection and intent, there are relatively small decisions and actions we can take to reduce our cumulative impacts and contribute to a better, greener future. We feel it’s important that we recognise and celebrate success, and understand the nature of the positive changes we make in our lives.

We’re happy to talk to you more about how these initiatives work, or to hear about your own experiences. You can either email me directly or reach out via our social media feeds on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Chris