We are proud to announce that Geologix has been certified as a Climate Positive Business Operation, thanks to the help and expertise of Ekos. As an environmental consultancy and regularly engineering against the effects of climate change and sea level rise we thought it was time to be aware of the emissions we make as a business.
This certification is a milestone for our business, having measured and offset 120 % of our carbon footprint with certified carbon credits. We realise this does not prevent the emissions that we created over the past year but it provides a benchmark for our environmental sustainability going forward and means we can set goals to reduce our impact on the planet.
This year we will be using our measured impact and our aim is to reduce our net CO2 output over the coming year as our business grows rapidly. This will be a massive challenge to implement and will require a change of mindset in how we operate our business.
It was interesting to learn about the many ways a small business can generate CO2. In this process we measured direct emissions, energy usage and heating, transportation (including employee commuting), products we use and the waste we generate. This was undertaken in accordance with the ISO14064 standard.
The certified carbon credits we chose to invest in were sourced from Kānuka Hill with 76.4 ha of naturally regenerating indigenous forest located in Uruwhenua, Mōhua (Golden Bay). Registered under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012, the forest sequesters 896 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The land is also home to the Kill Devil track, a historic and technical track used by mountain bikers and back country trampers on the edge of the Kahurangi National Park.
In the 1990s the area was ex pasture overrun with gorse and a few regenerating natives. Now it is an established forest of Kānuka, Mānuka, Tōtora, Ferns and Rimu that have largely self seeded.
We look forward to reporting the changes we make over the next year to reduce our CO2 footprint.