In Australia and all around the world large and small companies become more sustainable to increase their bottom line. According to a Harvard Business School study*, companies that have strong sustainability performance and policies substantially outperform those without, in both profits and share-price growth. Some of the benefits that businesses achieve when embedding sustainability in their overall strategy include cost savings, brand enhancement and competitive advantage.
An easy and meaningful way for a business to improve its environmental footprint is to measure and offset its carbon emissions. In 2007, Taylor Fry, a leading Australian actuary firm, partnered with Climate Friendly to offset its carbon emissions to achieve carbon neutrality. Carbon neutrality is achieved when the net greenhouse gas emissions of an organisation, event, service or a product are equal to zero. This is done by reducing emissions and then acquiring and cancelling carbon offsets to match remaining emissions.Taylor Fry went even a step further by deciding to offset its entire historical carbon footprint.
We recently interviewed Jessica Egan, Analyst at Taylor Fry, to learn more about the company’s motivations. Jessica explains that carbon neutrality shows Taylor Fry’s long term approach, is a way to involve staff and has also reduced running costs for the business: “We believe in creating things that last throughout our business – in our relationships with clients, in the solutions we develop for them, and in the way we treat the planet. We want to continue to be leaders in sustainability, which is why we are going beyond being carbon neutral.”
Taylor Fry closely monitors and reduces the sources of its carbon emissions: “We reduce our emissions per full-time employee by recycling all paper, glass, plastic, tin, aluminium and ink cartridges in our offices and encourage our staff to walk, cycle or catch public transport to work. We also reduce our environmental impact by purchasing paper sourced from 100% post-consumer recycled waste.” says Jessica.
Taylor Fry offsets its carbon emissions by supporting a wind farm project in India, the Tamil Nadu 45 Turbine Wind Project “because it provides great value for money, produces renewable energy and offers additional benefits to the local community, for example through employment opportunities.” explains Jessica.
We asked Jessica to share some tips that will help your business reduce and offset its carbon emissions:
1. “It costs less than you might think, and can actually help reduce running costs for the business.
2. Start slow. We introduced paper recycling first, then energy-saving activities and finally offsetting our emissions.
3. Don’t just rely on the economic benefits and ignore the benefits of other externalities: if you’re just looking at costs you’ll underestimate the advantages.
4. Encourage your staff to get involved. You need someone who is the ‘enviro monitor’ to keep track of things.”
Get started, calculate your business carbon footprint online and select a ready-made package to offset your carbon emissions. If you are part of a large company, contact our team for bespoke carbon management solutions.
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