Pages tagged "Corporates"
Tessa Carroll | Creative Director at A_C OFFICIAL
Tessa is the Creative Director at A_C OFFICIAL and says they use "fashion as a vessel for change because the sheer size of the global market means we can create a large impact."
Read more from our interview with Tessa below.
What is A_C OFFICIAL?
A_C OFFICIAL is an ethical and sustainable accessories brand, designed to tackle climate change, one handbag at a time. To do this, we use innovative plant-based and recycled textiles, effectively drawing down carbon from the production of these materials and diverting waste from landfill. To support this, we also donate profits from each sale to foundations working on carbon sequestration projects, such as the Climate Foundation.
Why is A_C OFFICIAL taking climate action?
It’s not enough to be environmentally friendly, we need to be environmentally beneficial. We don’t have time to avoid causing damage to the planet, we need to be actively reversing it. We use fashion as a vessel for change because the sheer size of the global market means we can create a large impact. We set out to prove sustainable and luxury-goods can co-exist.
How is A_C OFFICIAL taking climate action?
We are working with a number of suppliers that promote radical transparency. Our current factory has intentions to move all production off grid in the next 5 years. Our head office is powered through renewable energy only and our courier partners are carbon neutral. Further, we donate $5 of each sale to build sea-kelp forests off the coast of Tasmania. This is to offset our own carbon footprint during the importation process. We are moving towards being a sea-freight only business which will delay our deliveries but will ensure our footprint is 26x less than air-freight.
Other emission reduction targets are currently being determined as we establish our framework. This is always a work in progress as we strive to do and be more energy conscious.
Can you share something A_C OFFICIAL is currently planning or delivering that you are excited about?
We are about to release the very first range of cactus leather handbags and accessories. We will be first to market with this innovation which is made from the cuttings of the cactus plant.
What opportunities has A_C OFFICIAL uncovered from taking climate action today?
This is hard to say as climate change is an invisible enemy. We know it is happening but in our day-to-day we cannot see it. Therefore we carry on doing and being the best we can, inspiring others to do the same and influencing our political parties.
What climate action would you like to see Australia take?
A mass shift away from fossil fuels and into the renewable energy sector is paramount. We need to harness solar and wind power to run our country and the surrounding ones through renewable export opportunities like hydrogen. It is possible and it should not be political.
Jamie-Lee Kay | Co-founder of The Other Straw
Jamie-Lee co-founded The Other Straw in 2018, a social enterprise that is replacing plastic straws with ethically sourced bamboo straw. Jamie-Lee’s mission is for the company to become carbon neutral by 2025. Having already replaced 48,378,560 plastic straws from landfill, Jamie-Lee is convinced that sustainable business could be one of the solutions to combat climate change.
Read Jamie-Lee’s story and read what action she wants the government to take.
Can you tell us a bit about The Other Straw?
theotherstraw is a social enterprise replacing plastic straws with reusable, ethically-sourced bamboo straws. We launched late 2018. Since then, we have replaced 48,378,560 plastic straws from entering our landfills and polluting our natural environments.
Our mission is to make the world a more sustainable place. And this is embedded in everything we do. We offset all our CO2 emissions and invest in regenerating empty lands and restoring forests. We put part of our sales revenue to environmental projects to protect and restore our natural ecosystems. We are a 1% For The Planet member to further boost our support and love for our natural environments and oceans.
Why is The Other Straw taking climate action?
Climate change isn’t a distant threat—it's taking place now.
The science is crystal clear. Climate change poses the biggest threat facing our planet. The Planet is heating up, and really fast. Fires are burning across Australia, and heatwaves are widespread across Europe. The extreme events and consequences are apparent.
We can't sit around waiting for solutions by governments, policy makers or organisations. We can't wait for the world to change. We need to make it happen ourselves.
Can you share your commitments to climate action?
Climate policies and strategies are at the forefront of our business. We want to make sure everything we are doing is working towards a cleaner, healthier planet.
All of our products are made from sustainable and renewable materials including bamboo and coconut. As a result, we've avoided 69,964 kg CO2 emissions from people switching to our straws instead of producing plastic straws. For our packaging, we do not use any virgin paper or materials. All our satchels, paper and card is made from post-consumer materials. So we can limit our CO2 footprint.
We’ve gone 100% carbon-neutral.
Since day one, all of our orders have been sent out 100% carbon-neutral. We've supported 11 carbon offset projects to cancel our emissions and provide 100% carbon-neutral delivery. But we decided that just offsetting our deliveries wasn't enough. So we turned it up a notch and cancelled our entire business CO2 emissions.
We did an assessment of our entire business operations. Once we were able to get a full understanding of the emissions, we could see where we could improve. After this, we knew how much we needed to offset to have net-zero emissions.
We partnered with Carbon Neutral Australia. They are a carbon solutions provider and reforestation developer. Through our partnership with them, we are restoring forests and regenerating empty lands across Australia.
By 2025 we will be climate positive.
Being carbon-neutral is a great start, but there is more that needs to be done. We've realised that reducing our emissions to zero is not enough. For this reason, we are committed to being climate positive by 2025.
We track and monitor our business greenhouse gas emissions. We're currently researching and investing in other renewable energies and strategies as part of our commitment to protect, restore and regenerate our planet.
Is there a project The Other Straw is currently working on that you are excited about?
We're currently in the process of applying to become B Corp.
We want to be B Corp certified and to take the lead on environmental and social issues impacting our planet. It is holding us accountable and helping us set up policies that can further reduce our carbon footprint, and help tackle climate change with other like-minded businesses.
What real-world opportunities have you uncovered from taking climate action today?
We're using theotherstraw as a force for good. We're advocating, educating and empowering the next generation of game-changers and social leaders to tackle climate change.
Just being sustainable isn't good enough. Our climate needs to be the forefront of every business agenda and decision.
Whether you're a startup, small business or large corporation, there will always be opportunities, decisions and tradeoffs. It's up to you and how you decide to use your resources to tackle climate action.
What action would you like to see Australia take on climate change?
To move away from fossil fuels. While we've seen so many other countries phasing out fossil fuels and moving towards a net zero carbon goal, it feels so frustrating that we're investing in new coal plants.
We need to see greater investments in solar and wind to help power our country. In a post-covid landscape, we want the government to invest in a green recovery and to help create a more sustainable, and greener future for our nation.