Gordon Brownell
Blue Connections IT has achieved carbon neutral certification for its business operations for the financial year ending June 30, 2022.
This was assessed by Pangolin Associates and certified by Climate Active against the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard.
Climate Active is a partnership between the Australian Government and businesses aiming to promote and drive legitimate climate action.
The voluntary program ensures every company is measured to the same standard, providing best-practice guidance on how to measure, reduce, and report emissions data.
To achieve carbon neutral certification, which is certified by Climate Active, organisations must complete a greenhouse gas assessment that accounts for the carbon produced from the entire value chain of the business’s operations.
The company must account for all carbon created as a result of the business being in operation. This includes cleaning, software, and stationery as well as professional services such as lawyers, public relations, and advertising.
During the assessment process, companies are required to develop a strategy to reduce their carbon emissions rather than relying solely on offsetting.
This strategy ensures that organisations are actively working towards avoiding and reducing their carbon emissions. Additionally, the assessment serves as a baseline for future financial years and lets businesses track their progress and identify areas to align their company with a low-carbon future.
“Blue Connections IT is proud to have achieved carbon neutral certification, certified by Climate Active, which is an important step in its sustainability journey," Blue Connections IT CEO, Gordon Brownell said. “Blue Connections IT is committed to continuing to enhance its business practices with its low carbon offset of 1,560 tons of carbon dioxide produced in the financial year ending June 30, 2022, evidence of some of the tangible actions the organisation has already taken.”
Blue Connections IT installed a 75-kilowatt solar panel array in its warehouse in 2021, which provides clean, renewable energy and significantly reduces its carbon emissions. This array will be doubled to over 150 kilowatts in 2023 with battery storage to come online.
Its fleet of electric vehicles, used for deliveries and by engineers, also reduces its carbon footprint, and the organisation plans to continue to transition more of its vehicles to electric in the future.
The business has also signed up with a car leasing company that provides employees with easier access to procuring electric vehicles and has installed six electric car charging stations with plans for additional charging stations to be installed.
In addition, the company uses recycled cardboard in its warehouse, replacing plastic packaging with a sustainable alternative.
“The ongoing assessments, conducted by Pangolin Associates, ensure that Blue Connections IT remains carbon neutral beyond the financial year,” he said. “This assessment is crucial to the business’s efforts to reduce its impact on the environment, and the lessons learned as a result of the Pangolin Associates process have assisted Blue Connections IT to identify areas of operation that can be made more sustainable, which will help the organisation reduce its carbon emissions in the future.”
