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InvestorTV spoke to two major companies that have travelled the carbon neutral path, to discover the positives and pitfalls, as well as the different approaches available for companies looking to go green.
Origin Energy’s Radford White believes that while companies must always answer to investors, increasingly they should be looking to answer to the environment as well.
“Well we’re a publicly listed company so everything we do eventually has to have some kind of link and some sort of response to our shareholders,” Mr White says. “But, above that, I think Origin recognized that there was really something that we really had to do.”
Jennifer Patterson from ANZ Bank supports White’s view, saying that big corporations should be leading the way for others in business.
“I think having leadership in this area is important because what we’re now seeing (is), people that are buying shares are taking sustainability into account when they’re assessing a customer,” Ms Patterson says. “And I think this will become a bigger issue as there’s a lot more awareness of the risks of climate change.”
The first step on the path to carbon neutrality is to calculate how much carbon a company emits, but as Ms Patterson says, even deciding which emissions should, and which shouldn’t, be included in any calculations is a confusing business.
“It’s about first of all, measuring your footprint,” she says. “What is your footprint? There’s a lot of discussion on should it be just direct – ie what carbon emissions you create directly, such as your own fleet, such as gas or diesel that’s used within your operations, or electricity which is considered as indirect because it’s the electricity generator that actually produces (it), but you use (it). And then there are other more indirect emissions such as (airplane) flights.”
Once a company decides which emissions to include in their calculations, what then? Jennifer Patterson says it’s not simply a case of paying another company to offset these emissions, but that the commitment should go much further.
“A part of your commitment is actually reducing your carbon footprint as well,” she says, “So it’s not just saying, look we’re going to buy offsets and that’s the way we’re going to deal with it, but its looking at energy efficiency; how can we do things better to actually reduce our carbon footprint?”
Radford White has similar advice for companies looking to become carbon neutral, and says that in many cases, companies will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of money that can be saved by going green.
“I would say that the first thing they need to look at is where they’re using their energy; perhaps get an assessment done, an audit – they’re relatively cheap,” he says. “With the audit you also get some recommendations about how to very quickly save money, so you get some quite quick paybacks on that.
“And then you can start looking at changing your energy use over to green energy or renewable energy, and that reduces your impact again, and then you can start looking at offsets and there’s a whole host of programmes that sort of post out from there.”
For those needing advice on going green, Ms Patterson believes that the best source of guidance is often those who have already trodden the same path.
“To get information and understand what’s involved, I think engaging with organizations that have become carbon neutral and gaining from their learning is actually quite important,” she says.
“And finding out who the good specialists are out there, because if you are going to be calculating your own carbon footprint, that has to be done independently and there is a lot of specialisation now that has been developed in that area – great consulting firms that can provide very good advice.”
Origin has taken its environmental commitments one step further, not only offsetting all office and transport emissions, but developing its innovative AFL Green Program. The initiative aims to reduce the AFL’s environmental impact by offsetting carbon emissions from some AFL venues and clubs. It also encourages supporters to adopt similar practices at home.
“AFL Green basically looks at administration; it looks at the venues; it looks at AFL clubs; and then it spreads out into supporters and members,” Mr White says.
“Effectively what we’re looking to do is take an assessment of the carbon that’s being put out by the AFL industry and we’ve worked out that there’s approximately 120,000 tonnes that we’re going to be taking out across those four spheres over the next three years.”
Despite the high-profile campaign, as Mr White points out, there is no quick fix when it comes to going green.
"Someone gave a great example the other day”, Mr White says, “if you see a $100 bill on the ground you’d probably bend over and pick it up – there’s no drama there. But if you see a hundred $1 coins, well you probably wouldn’t pick them all up.
“The problem is that the hundred $1 coins is the approach to carbon neutrality. So there’s a lot of small wins all over the place that people need to be prepared to work into and engage, and you’ll be surprised at what you find and how simple it is!”
Origin Energy’s Radford White believes that while companies must always answer to investors, increasingly they should be looking to answer to the environment as well.
“Well we’re a publicly listed company so everything we do eventually has to have some kind of link and some sort of response to our shareholders,” Mr White says. “But, above that, I think Origin recognized that there was really something that we really had to do.”
Jennifer Patterson from ANZ Bank supports White’s view, saying that big corporations should be leading the way for others in business.
“I think having leadership in this area is important because what we’re now seeing (is), people that are buying shares are taking sustainability into account when they’re assessing a customer,” Ms Patterson says. “And I think this will become a bigger issue as there’s a lot more awareness of the risks of climate change.”
The first step on the path to carbon neutrality is to calculate how much carbon a company emits, but as Ms Patterson says, even deciding which emissions should, and which shouldn’t, be included in any calculations is a confusing business.
“It’s about first of all, measuring your footprint,” she says. “What is your footprint? There’s a lot of discussion on should it be just direct – ie what carbon emissions you create directly, such as your own fleet, such as gas or diesel that’s used within your operations, or electricity which is considered as indirect because it’s the electricity generator that actually produces (it), but you use (it). And then there are other more indirect emissions such as (airplane) flights.”
Once a company decides which emissions to include in their calculations, what then? Jennifer Patterson says it’s not simply a case of paying another company to offset these emissions, but that the commitment should go much further.
“A part of your commitment is actually reducing your carbon footprint as well,” she says, “So it’s not just saying, look we’re going to buy offsets and that’s the way we’re going to deal with it, but its looking at energy efficiency; how can we do things better to actually reduce our carbon footprint?”
Radford White has similar advice for companies looking to become carbon neutral, and says that in many cases, companies will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of money that can be saved by going green.
“I would say that the first thing they need to look at is where they’re using their energy; perhaps get an assessment done, an audit – they’re relatively cheap,” he says. “With the audit you also get some recommendations about how to very quickly save money, so you get some quite quick paybacks on that.
“And then you can start looking at changing your energy use over to green energy or renewable energy, and that reduces your impact again, and then you can start looking at offsets and there’s a whole host of programmes that sort of post out from there.”
For those needing advice on going green, Ms Patterson believes that the best source of guidance is often those who have already trodden the same path.
“To get information and understand what’s involved, I think engaging with organizations that have become carbon neutral and gaining from their learning is actually quite important,” she says.
“And finding out who the good specialists are out there, because if you are going to be calculating your own carbon footprint, that has to be done independently and there is a lot of specialisation now that has been developed in that area – great consulting firms that can provide very good advice.”
Origin has taken its environmental commitments one step further, not only offsetting all office and transport emissions, but developing its innovative AFL Green Program. The initiative aims to reduce the AFL’s environmental impact by offsetting carbon emissions from some AFL venues and clubs. It also encourages supporters to adopt similar practices at home.
“AFL Green basically looks at administration; it looks at the venues; it looks at AFL clubs; and then it spreads out into supporters and members,” Mr White says.
“Effectively what we’re looking to do is take an assessment of the carbon that’s being put out by the AFL industry and we’ve worked out that there’s approximately 120,000 tonnes that we’re going to be taking out across those four spheres over the next three years.”
Despite the high-profile campaign, as Mr White points out, there is no quick fix when it comes to going green.
"Someone gave a great example the other day”, Mr White says, “if you see a $100 bill on the ground you’d probably bend over and pick it up – there’s no drama there. But if you see a hundred $1 coins, well you probably wouldn’t pick them all up.
“The problem is that the hundred $1 coins is the approach to carbon neutrality. So there’s a lot of small wins all over the place that people need to be prepared to work into and engage, and you’ll be surprised at what you find and how simple it is!”
