Like many organizations around the world, we at Grace have slowly arrived over the past few years at an understanding and appreciation of our responsibility to take real actions to reduce and minimize our carbon emissions. There is now a clear expectation from our customers, staff and community that the national and international goal to prevent or at least mitigate dangerous global warming can only be achieved if everyone including corporations invests in low carbon technologies and takes active measures to reduce or off-set emissions arising from all activities.

At Grace, our initial response to the impending climate crisis centered around electricity cost reduction through the installation of solar electricity generation panels in our company-owned offices and warehouses, and the replacement of all halogen lighting with low-energy LED lighting. However, following the particularly hot and dangerous 2019 Australian summer which culminated in a devasting bushfire season across all states, we decided to partner with a local organization called Greenfleet to offset our vehicle fleet’s carbon emissions.

Greenfleet is a non-profit institution that engages with private and public landowners to undertake native reforestation programs across Australia. The organization has been active for more than 20 years and works closely with local traditional Indigenous custodians to ensure the appropriate biodiversity is reintroduced and the reforested land and its fauna is protected and made available for traditional Indigenous activities.

In addition to the Grace vehicle emissions offset program, we have also chosen to support two specific reforestation projects in Queensland and Victoria—areas close to endangered koala populations—with the intention of increasing the amount of native forest habitat to secure their long-term survival.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Greenfleet partnership has been the opportunity for Grace staff to be personally involved in tree-planting events and learn more about local Indigenous culture from traditional owners during these events.

This year, Grace has committed to a more formal strategic Sustainability Plan which will provide a roadmap towards the shared goal of achieving carbon neutrality across the entire Grace Group of businesses. We have engaged a leading environmental management consultancy to assist with a comprehensive carbon emissions audit which covers all Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to determine a baseline figure we can use to report against and develop future reduction milestones leading to 100% carbon neutrality certification.

The greenhouse gas audit process is proving to be a complex process that has drawn upon many parts of the business including operations, forwarding, finance, compliance, HR, IT and marketing. One of the most challenging aspects has been trying to measure our supply chain’s emissions associated with Scope 3 activities outside of our direct control. We have been able to determine with a high degree of accuracy emissions from ocean and air freight, however the moving and relocation services being undertaken on our behalf by our international partner network is proving to be particularly difficult, if not impossible to accurately determine. Leading moving associations like FIDI and IAM are taking important steps towards standardized emissions reporting by all members. However, despite the urgent need for action, we haven’t reached that point yet.

The Grace management team is fully invested in the goal of achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible and looks forward to the introduction of electric vehicles, greater levels of re-use and recycling of consumables, and the overall decarbonization of the industry, and is determined to play a leading role.