Certification and beyond – carbon neutral
Our carbon neutral journey
In deciding to become carbon neutral, we realised that we had a great opportunity to bring benefits beyond reducing carbon emissions. We also recognised that our indirect contributions to high carbon producing activities places a responsibility on us to act. Our core value of self-awareness means that we take action to develop ourselves and each other.
Shoal’s selected providers of carbon credits are the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and Greenfleet. The Aboriginal Carbon Foundation is a not for profit that connects Aboriginal communities with organisations seeking offsets. They provide training for Indigenous rangers and support traditional land management. They deliver many core benefits including social, cultural, environmental, political, economic and community health. This aligned with our values of sociability and is also a creative, long-term approach to managing and supporting the environment. Creativity is another of our values, so we agreed that the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation was a good match.
Greenfleet is an organisation that protects the environment and climate through reforestation activities in Australia and New Zealand. Greenfleet offsets are bundled with National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) approved credits from overseas renewable projects. While Greenfleet is focused on environmental outcomes, they also have additional community benefits including job creation, community engagement and biodiversity and endangered species protection. This year, Shoal employed our first New Zealand based staff member. We now had a responsibility to consider the impact of our business operations across two countries, so Greenfleet delivered on this objective, as well as our value of professionalism. To us, professionalism is acting ethically as ambassadors and influencers.
Choosing the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and Greenfleet quickly gained support from our team and was approved by our Leadership team.
“We hope to have an impact beyond the direct environmental benefits including demonstrating support for Indigenous communities as well as supporting Australia and New Zealand conservation projects,” says Michael Waite, Shoal CEO. “These purchased carbon credits and carbon neutral certification are just the beginning of Shoal’s journey to becoming leaders in sustainable practice.”
Shoal is proud to be certified Carbon Neutral by Climate Active. We continue to assess our business activities and make choices that consider our environmental impact as part of the decision making process.
