ClimateClever Blog

Blog

We are thrilled to have the following Local Governments and other wonderful organisations as our inaugural ClimateClever Partners.

Our ClimateClever Partners offer their networks/communities 50% off our Apps.

Check out our wonderful ClimateClever Partners

If you are a resident, a school, or a business within one of these Local Governments or are connected to any of the other organisations, you can get 50% off our ClimateClever Apps!

OR - if you are lucky, you might even get a free subscription as several of them have generously purchased Free Annual Homes Subscriptions to give away to their community. Simply sign up to access the discount.

And our other wonderful Partners include:

SA Government Department of Environment and Water

Our Partners

So you want to go carbon neutral but you're not sure what that involves, how much it costs, what the process is, and whether you need to be certified or not? Having helped to certify the first carbon-neutral school in Australia back in 2012 (which became the inspiration behind ClimateClever) and having written my PhD on the topic of low carbon and carbon-neutral urban development, I have learnt a thing or two about it all over the years. Given the growing interest in carbon neutrality from a lot of our ClimateClever users (particularly businesses), I thought I'd share my insights into the topic.

Want to go carbon neutral but don't know where to start? Here's a quick overview!

Becoming carbon neutral

I want to start by saying how encouraging it is to hear so many companies, schools, and organisations - regardless of their size - considering the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality. It's completely achievable, something we can all do (even as individuals!), and helps each of us to take a leadership role in climate action, demonstrating what's possible to others.

While it's easy to be daunted by some of the more rigorous certification schemes, especially when you read through their documentation, I'll start by saying - you don't HAVE to be certified to claim carbon neutrality (but more on that later). It can be super simple to become carbon neutral! 

The broad process of achieving carbon neutrality generally involves:

Reducing it as much as possible each year through actions;

Offsetting your remaining emissions to become carbon neutral.


The first decision you have to make is around defining the boundary of your carbon footprint. Basically, this means choosing what emission sources you want to include or exclude. There are some main ones that you should probably include (or that people might frown upon or ask questions if you didn’t). 

This generally includes things like electricity, gas, water, and waste (they are often some of the biggest sources). We have historically included these four sources in our ClimateClever school's carbon footprint. The other reason we focused on these four sources was that those sources are relatively easy to access data on (i.e. from utility bills) and schools are notoriously time-poor. Balancing simplicity with impact has been a challenge for us from the start, but we are a big believer that any action is better than no action. And it's VERY easy to put people off...

For businesses, there are a few more sources that should be included, such as flights (which can be the biggest source of emissions for some businesses), company-owned vehicles, and reams of paper purchased. These sources will be added to the Business App (which we are launching this month #VERYEXCITED!), but we will also be making them available across all our platforms, including schools and homes. 

Some certification schemes require other emission sources to be included such as refrigerants (i.e. the emissions that leak out of your fridge and air conditioning system) and various other products or services. I would argue, you don't *need* to include the products you purchase (outside of paper) as this really is your supply chains' emissions (HUGE opportunities to influence the supply chain though! ...a topic for another blog).

So if you are using our ClimateClever platform, you simply need to enter the data from the emission sources that are relevant to you and the App will show you your total emissions, total abatements (i.e. if you had offset flights at the point of purchase or if you have chosen Green Power for your electricity, etc) and what your net carbon footprint is (your total footprint minus the abatements). 

This 'Net' figure is the one to look at if you want to go carbon neutral. That figure is the number of tonnes of offsets you will need to purchase in order to claim carbon neutrality.

I'll come to the certification issue later, but one thing to also be aware of/plan for is accessibility to your bills or data sources. If you ever get asked about how you calculated your carbon footprint (or if you want to be certified), you'll need to provide all the bills for someone to review (i.e. a third-party auditor). We can provide the information about how it’s been calculated (i.e our methodology etc), which is based on international protocols and standards and uses National Greenhouse Account Factors (you can also read more about the carbon accounting side of things in our other blog [here](https://www.climateclever.org/blog/our-second-blog-post)), but you will be responsible for being organised with your own data/bills!

2. Reducing your carbon footprint through actions

It’s generally seen as a bit ‘greenwashy’ and a cop-out if you just calculate and offset your carbon footprint each year without actively trying to reduce your consumption/emissions internally (it's seen as palming off responsibility to someone else). So you always want to demonstrate that you are doing actions that are helping to reduce your overall consumption (and therefore emissions). The great co-benefit of this is that this will likely save you money too! By increasing your efficiency, you’ll notice a drop in your utility bills. Win win. 

Our ClimateClever App provides loads of ideas and suggestions for actions you can take from no-cost/behaviour change actions through to more expensive upgrades and retrofits of appliances. You can also manage the actions throughout the year in the app (i.e. assign users who will be responsible for actions, set deadlines for actions, and provide feedback on actions). It's important to have your actions documented in case anyone questions if/how you have *actually* reduced your emissions (prior to offsetting). 

The final step (always done at the end of the year - financial or calendar) is purchasing enough offsets to cover your total carbon footprint for the previous year. Cost for offsets can range from a few dollars a tonne - which are usually international offsets, to $30+ per tonne for Australian offsets (i.e. tree planting initiatives, etc). You can also do a combination of both.

The most important thing is that they are credible offsets. There are a lot of smaller offset companies popping up, so you just want to make sure that the offsets you purchase are legitimate. About a decade ago there were some big issues with offset providers reselling the same offsets multiple times (leading to double counting), and ultimately eroding consumer confidence in the whole idea of offsetting and carbon neutrality. Thankfully the government cracked down and started issuing big fines for dodgy players. It's a much more regulated playing field now so less to worry about! We can give you some recommendations when the time comes.

If you want to be certified, you should also check if the offsets you want to purchase are eligible under that particular scheme. Our Australian Federal Government's Climate Active certification provides their guidance on offsets on page 46 of this document.

Going through the carbon neutral certification process with the school I mentioned back in 2012 was an interesting experience, to say the least! My biggest takeaway from the whole complicated process was that schools probably don’t need to be formally certified. While it certainly adds credibility to carbon-neutral claims, it’s probably more designed for bigger businesses with bigger marketing budgets. It’s very time-consuming, can be quite expensive (unless you were using free PhD students like the lucky school did back then!), and probably unnecessary for small to medium businesses or schools. That particular school ultimately decided to drop the certification (but they continued to measure, reduce and offset for a number of years) and used that money instead on tangible actions like LED lighting upgrades, etc. 

As I mentioned in the beginning, I wrote my PhD around the topic of carbon neutrality and certification (if you struggle to sleep at night you can read it here or purchase my book, so I've done a bit of research on this. What I can safely say is that you don’t *NEED* to be certified to claim carbon neutrality, you just need to:

be transparent about what you have included in your carbon footprint (i.e. your boundaries);

what offsets you have purchased to become carbon neutral and the time frames (i.e. if it’s for last year etc). 

If you stop the measuring/offsetting process but accidentally leave 'carbon neutral' messaging up on your website, you can enter into ‘false claims’ territory and can run the risk of big fines. And rightly so! 

So just bear in mind, if carbon neutrality is the long-term goal, then it’s an ongoing goal (not a once-off). You need to keep measuring, managing/reducing, and offsetting it annually to be able to keep claiming the status. I would argue that that's what we all need to be doing anyway to get this runaway climate change train back under control!

We all have a role to play and we certainly need to go above and beyond what the government is 'requiring' us to do. Voluntarily going carbon neutral is a great option and a relatively affordable one. 

I hope that helps (and hasn’t overwhelmed!).

Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Carbon Neutrality - what it is and how we get there

ClimateClever recently welcomed its first ‘Homes App Partner’, Gaia Resources, an environmental consultancy that delivers responsible sustainable technology solutions to make the world a better place.

ClimateClever recently welcomed its first ‘Homes App Partner’, GaiaResources, an environmental consultancy that delivers responsible sustainable technology solutions to make the world a better place.

Gaia Resources joins ClimateClever

We spoke to Gaia’s Chief Executive Officer, Piers Higgs, about what motivated him to purchase the ClimateClever Homes App for each of Gaia’s staff to use at home.

Why is action on climate change important for you?

When I founded Gaia Resources back in 2004, it was to try to set up a company that could mix up my technology and environmental skills, but also delivers a positive outcome to the environment.  Since then, we’ve always had the environment at the core of our company here at Gaia Resources, from our purchasing strategies and operational processes to our client base and the support we provide to organisations working on the ground making real positive change.

I had some time in early 2020 to think about what we do as a company and where we want to be in the future, and to look at the threats to our future.  Climate change is one of those threats.  It’s something we then collectively decided that it’s something we need to step up and do something on, even though we’re a small group in the most isolated capital city in the world.  Plus, it’d be nice to see something positive coming out of 2020. Making these changes is important to me, it’s important for our staff, it’s important for their children - and it’s important for our planet.  Without those things, we don’t have a company.  So it is obvious for me personally, and for our company collectively, that action needs to be taken.

Why did you support your staff in providing them with ClimateClever Home subscriptions?

As part of the changes around our company under the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we were forced into working from home as the default method of operating, rather than the optional method we’d had in the past.  As part of this shift, and in line with our future planning, I did some basic calculations about our carbon footprint to look at how that has changed with our team no longer commuting.  The results were eye-opening about how much carbon our team produces getting to work; and so we collectively decided it was time to change our working practices, keep working from home, and put carbon emissions in the forefront of our minds.

So, with us actively reducing carbon emissions by continuing to work from home, I also wanted to support our team in reducing their own home emissions.  This is part of the working from home “relationship” we have with our staff - they work from home and get more time with their families, and as a company, we get benefits from that of reducing our office space.  It seemed obvious to me that we have a responsibility to support our team with the carbon (and other) costs associated with working from home as well.

The ClimateClever Home subscriptions are a great way to put positive action on climate change squarely into the hands of our team at their homes.

What role do you think staff can play in addressing climate change?

I think everyone - not just our staff - needs to play a role in addressing climate change, but right now we’re starting with our “tribe” here at Gaia Resources and making it as positive as we can.

The role that our staff can play here is to use the ClimateClever Home subscription to reduce their emissions at home, and to also save money.  If our team can make some better decisions and behavioural changes at home, we hope this will snowball into others doing the same - their friends and families too.

While we’re focused on the impacts of working from home with our ClimateClever Home subscriptions, we’re also working on how to reduce the carbon emissions from our locations in co-working spaces around the country.  Our staff is also instrumental in supporting those other actions on climate change as we push for positive change across our offices, too.

I hope that our staff becomes ambassadors for this change, and we can start seeing action on climate change radiate out from these first simple steps we’ve taken collectively.

What has been the feedback so far from staff?

We were lucky to get Vanessa to come into one of our regular (virtual) team meetings, and to present on the history of why she started ClimateClever, what it does as a system and how it can support our team members at home - and that was a great way for our team to understand the reasoning behind it and our uptake has really picked up as a result.

Our team is now working on entering their bills and getting started on the “Measure” part of using the app and then starting to create some of the simple actions that are available.  It seems to be going well at this early stage, but we’re all learning and sharing ideas and learnings from using the app as we go in our internal chats and discussions.

I guess I’d summarise that the feedback has been pretty positive so far!

What else are you doing in your business to reduce your climate impact?

There are a few key things that we’re working on right now, including getting a formal review of our corporate emissions so that we have an evidential baseline to see what our changes will deliver over the coming 12 months.

We’re also looking at embracing the working from home and the restrictions on travel so that we (and particularly myself!) don’t end up spending tons of carbon flying across the country when a virtual meeting would have sufficed.  That’s also stretching out into some other initiatives about making our operations much more climate-friendly, which we’re still working on the mechanics, calculations, and certification around.  There’s a lot of action going on in this area right now - we will be posting updates on our website and in our blog and social media articles.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what impact we have collectively as a company - including all our reductions at home - over the next twelve months.  ClimateClever will be a big part of our journey - so thank you for helping us to achieve that!

Isn’t it all a matter of multiplying a few factors together? This is a question that I am asked time and again as an environmental accountant, most recently in response to my work as Carbon Guru with ClimateClever developing an online carbon calculator for schools, homes and communities.

This is a question that I am asked time and again as an environmental accountant, most recently in response to my work as Carbon Guru with ClimateClever developing an online carbon calculator for schools, homes and communities.

Isn’t it all a matter of multiplying a few factors together?

This question comes second to only to, “how is it possible for us to account for carbon emissions?” -the logic behind this question being that since emissions are invisible and intangible, how can they be counted?

My question in reply to these questions is, would we ask the same thing about accounting for money? Of course not. Accounting for money is at the centre of everything these days. But money is even more invisible and intangible than an emission — money exists mostly as electrons in computers these days, with very little embodied as cash in hand. Determining the value of money results from multiplying many factors together, all of which fluctuate geographically such as with currency exchange rates, or overtime such as through inflation. Nobody anywhere says accounting for money is easy.

So, let’s take a closer look at carbon accounting. Technically, we should use the term carbon dioxide equivalent global warming potential accounting, but this doesn’t roll off the tongue so easily. What this more exact term means is that we are potentially accounting for hundreds of different gases that contribute to trapping heat on the Earth. The most common of these gases are water vapour (H2O), however, water vapour drops out of the atmosphere as rain after only a short while. Since water doesn’t build up in the atmosphere it has minimal “global warming potential”, otherwise known as “radiative forcing”. By comparison, carbon dioxide (CO2), the most common greenhouse gas, stays in the atmosphere for as much as 500 years! In the same way that we might convert other currencies into Australian dollars to add up the coins in our piggy bank here, in carbon accounting we add up the global warming potential of all these gases in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that would be needed produce the same amount of global warming. Just like currency exchange rates, scientific understanding of the global warming potential of these gases changes, and so these factors must be updated according to the latest science.

There are many other issues to consider. For example, the easiest emissions to account for are those that we directly cause by ourselves (named Scope 1 emissions), such as burning a litre of petrol. This is an example of the most straightforward calculation, mainly using a factor estimated from the average number of carbon atoms in that volume of petrol. But even here there are options — since older vehicles or motors such as in generators, do not combust as efficiently as in newer cars resulting in more polluting methane and nitrous oxide gases. (These factors also differ between countries with different petrol fuel standards and different climates — in Australia our petrol is on average purer and warmer/less dense than in the United States).

From here on things get much, much more difficult. Take carbon emissions resulting from the use of electricity from the grid. These emissions happen far away from us (named Scope 2 emissions) and depend upon whether the mix of sources of electricity in each grid contains more-or-less coal, other fuels, and renewables. Separately accounted for is the average loss of electricity in wires and other equipment required to deliver it. The government supplied factors for these grids converting electricity into carbon emissions also change from year to year, sometimes abruptly such as the reduction of factors this year for the grid in South Australia resulting from a large boost of renewables and the Tesla big battery. The same holds true for carbon emissions in different water and sewer networks. At Climate Clever we also use computer mapping (Geographic Information Systems) to check which grids or water schemes apply to a school’s location. These network configurations also change from year-to-year. Creating systems to track all this is a big job, especially while still making them easy and fun enough for schools and kids to use them!

At the end of the day, while Climate Clever has managed to tackle many of these tough issues of carbon accounting to make them accurate but easy to use, carbon accounting is quite a bit more difficult than “multiplying a few factors together.” And don’t let me get started on much more complicated carbon accounting problems involved in school tree plantings and student transportation to school! Actually, we’ve already started on solving these problems, so stay tuned for my later blog post on these when we release an updated version of the ClimateClever app next year.

This is a question that I am asked time and again as an environmental accountant, most recently in response to my work as Carbon Guru with ClimateClever developing an online carbon calculator for schools, homes, and communities.

Blog

Our Partners

Carbon Neutrality - what it is and how we get there

Gaia Resources joins ClimateClever

It’s Not Easy Counting Green