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Ironbark Sustainability

Represented by Jenny Frieden, Project Officer

Answer

How does your organisation address climate change?

For nearly two decades, Ironbark Sustainability has worked with councils and their communities to reduce greenhouse emissions, tackle climate change and implement sustainability projects and programs. There are 537 local governments in Australia and since we began our journey in 2004, we've worked with 260 of them, covering 86% of the population, in every state and territory.

Whether on council facilities and assets or in the broader community, the concept of real action underpins everything we do. We're proud that the projects that we've been involved in advising, preparing, or getting our hands dirty project managing have resulted in real projects that will deliver 3.64 million tonnes of greenhouse gas abatement as well as over $550 million in financial savings.

What is your organisation doing to create a better future?

As a certified B-Corp and leader in the climate field, we already manage our operations in a way that minimizes our carbon footprint. We purchase Greenpower (electricity from renewable sources), completely avoid use of gas and offset all flights and vehicle trips. We also encourage staff to cycle and take public transport to meetings and to work, and provide flexible work arrangements that reduce the need to commute.

We will continue to do so, and additionally strive to fly less and drive less by encouraging our staff and clients to increase their use of teleconferencing. We have committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 but plan to meet this milestone earlier, with the main area for action being offsetting our fleet emissions, which we plan commence this year.

Our biggest impact, however, is in our work with our clients. We have a very small carbon footprint that is reduced through renewable energy and offsets, and this is dwarfed by the work with councils, which has resulted in millions of tonnes of emissions reduction. We work with councils and their communities to reduce greenhouse emissions, tackle climate change and implement sustainability projects and programs. We will continue to enable our clients to make the biggest impact in this space that they can.

The actions we seek to encourage range from reducing councils' operational greenhouse gas emissions, to working with their communities to facilitate substantial greenhouse gas reductions, to advocating for a better future through initiatives like the BFA declaration.