Hub Australia has committed to becoming certified 100% carbon neutral by July 2020, in pursuit of the business’s goal of making a positive impact on the world and environment.
Businesses doing better
Hub Australia provides coworking to thousands of members across Australia, with each business operating in a Hub Australia space benefitting from the initiatives run by the coworking space to help create a better world.
Each member is able to benefit from knowing that by the end of FY20 their business’s workspace emissions will be rendered carbon neutral by their workspace provider.
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What does carbon neutral mean?
Carbon neutrality is more than just a buzz term – it involves managing greenhouse gas emissions and offsetting unavoidable emissions by collaborating with experts.
More and more businesses and organisations are managing their emissions to future-proof themselves, positioning their business for growth and competitiveness in a lower-emissions future.
Carbon neutral means reducing emissions where possible and compensating for the remainder by investing in carbon reduction projects (via offset units) to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
What is the goal of carbon neutrality?
To keep global warming under 2 degrees celsius by 2050, it’s recommended for each human to keep their CO2 emissions under 2 tonnes per year. Currently it’s estimated that each Australian has an average carbon footprint of 15 tonnes of CO2 each year.
2 degrees may not sound like much difference for the planet in the next 31 years, but it results in 98% of reefs at risk, a 17% decrease in freshwater availability, and a 50cm sea level rise – especially disastrous on an island nation like Australia, surrounded by other smaller islands and communities.
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What is Hub Australia doing?
Hub Australia has already been using renewable energy across all clubhouses in Australia and is now making the shift to becoming certified carbon neutral to add a new layer of accountability.
“The National Carbon Offset Standard is a voluntary standard used to manage greenhouse gas emissions”.
Hub Australia is working with fellow B Corporation Pangolin Associates, an Australian owned and operated energy and carbon management consultancy, who is helping the coworking space provider become certified by July 2020.
How does carbon neutral coworking benefit Hub’s members?
Hub Australia has almost 3000 members around Australia, in 7 beautiful locations.
As well as the obvious benefit to the planet, members are able to know that the environmental impact of running their businesses in Hub coworking spaces is less than if they had a private lease or other workspace solutions.
Hub Australia encourages members to investigate and explore their own global and social impacts.
Where the energy use of running the coworking spaces is offset by the organisation, every business still has a carbon footprint consisting of staff travel, materials and products used in the business, and each element of this has its own impact.
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What other environmental impact does Hub Australia have?
As a certified B Corporation, Hub Australia strives to better the world. With business-wide initiatives like recycling coffee grounds, using carbon-neutral postage, donating 1% of profits and produce (coworking memberships) to impact-driven and not-for-profit businesses and much more.
To find out more about what Hub Australia does to make a positive change to the world through business, head to our Impact page.
