To be Carbon Neutral in Australia requires approval by the Australian Governments Climate Active team that we have accounted for, reduced and offset our organisations Carbon Emissions.
Our current goal is certified Carbon Neutral as an organisation for 2019, 2020 and each calendar year thereafter. This requires reducing and or offsetting emissions from our Head Office and Business activities for Scopes 1 to 3.
Scope 1: All Direct Emissions from the activities of an organisation or under their control.
Scope 2: Electricity and gas usage in our Head office and stores.
Scope 3: All Other Indirect Emissions from our activities, occurring from sources that we do not own or control. These are usually the greatest share of the carbon footprint, covering emissions associated with business travel, fabric freight, couriers, waste and water.
This process involves a significant investment of time to collate data and costs on all the items listed above for both full calendar years. Once collected, these costs and usage are then verified by an accountant and sent to be reviewed by Climate Active to calculate the emissions for both years.
Once our emissions are calculated, we can continue to reduce our carbon footprint and investigate emissions offsets we can invest in.
THE COST
The accreditation and process to become certified Carbon Neutral are all additional costs a business takes on - and the compliance is quite intensive. But we believe it is an important part of our business and its duty of care to the environment and our commitment to the community. The good news is, Climate Active are streamlining this process for small businesses, which is a great step in the right direction to ensure more small businesses are not deterred by the costs and time associated.
WHERE TO NEXT?
Once we have achieved Carbon Neutral status for the organisation, the next major goal is to secure this same accreditation for our product. This is calculating the emissions of each style, per season and ensuring its scope 3 emissions are offset. This is a significant challenge for a fashion business as each season there are several products all with different carbon footprints. We are ready for that challenge.
Bianca Spender is accredited as a Carbon Neutral organisation for 2019 and has pledged a Carbon Neutral 2020 and 2021 target