HMA goes carbon neutral

Hall McMaster & Associates Ltd have become the first professional human service teachers and practitioners in New Zealand to be certified carbon neutral through Landcare Research’s carboNZero^CertTM programme.

HMA Director Ken McMaster said, “At HMA maintaining our position as a good corporate citizen is important to us – seeking carboNZero certification is one way to contribute to this aim.”

HMA is a team of professional human service teachers and practitioners offering blended learning solutions to organisations in the social service sector. They work as trainers, programme developers, supervisors and writers in the area of human service work. Much of their work occurs in the areas of consultation in criminal justice work, social work with men, family violence prevention training programmes, child protection, the interviewing of children experiencing trauma, abuse issues, and psychological assessment and therapy. This work occurs both in New Zealand and Australia.

To achieve carboNZero certification, HMA committed to a three-step process of measuring and reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, then offsetting its remaining unavoidable emissions.

This meant measuring HMA’s GHG emissions, or carbon footprint, and understanding where emissions were coming from. Most of HMA’s emissions came from travel, particular international and domestic air travel.

HMA then had to make a commitment to manage and reduce those emissions. The aim to reduce air travel by 3% for the coming year will contribute to meeting this target.

The remaining unavoidable emissions were offset through the purchase and cancellation of verified carbon credits from the TrustPower Tararua II PRE Windpower project.

Because HMA buys its electricity from Meridian energy, which has carboNZero certification, no carbon credits were required to offset its electricity usage.

An external, independent auditor checked the process before the carboNZero programme small enterprise certification was issued.

Landcare Research’s carboNZero programme is an internationally recognised GHG emissions management and reduction certification scheme, through which remaining unavoidable emissions are mitigated through the provision of verified carbon credits.

The carboNZero programme is the only accredited ISO14065 GHG verifier outside of the United States of America and the world’s first GHG certification scheme to receive international accreditation from the Joint Accreditation System – Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). This means they offer a framework for businesses here and overseas to measure and report their carbon footprint with confidence and credibility as it has been verified against a global standard and is accepted in 50 major world economies.

The small enterprise programme is available to all small enterprises with a single site that produces less than 50 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.

Our company profile and disclosure page is now up on the carboNZero website. Please use this link to view our profile: http://www.carbonzero.co.nz/members/seccertified.asp#hma

We therefore want to encourage you to be mindful of your own carbon footprint. The following ideas can be used at home or in the workplace where appropriate. With climate change becoming more of an issue in New Zealand, now is the time for us to do something about it. If everyone does a little, then a lot can be achieved.

1. Replace your light bulbs with energy saving ones.
2. Insulating your house will reduce heat from escaping through the roof and walls. Costs involved in fitting it will be offset by reduced heating bills.
3. When boiling the kettle, only fill the kettle with the amount of water needed.
4. RECYCLE as much waste as possible.
5. Turn off electrical appliances when not in use. Leaving items on standby still uses a lot of energy which contributes to CO2 emissions.
6. Walk or cycle to work where possible rather than going by car.
7. Check your car tyre pressures on a regular basis to ensure the tyres are not under inflated. Under inflated tyres reduce fuel economy which then leads to increased CO2 emissions.
8. Turn down the water heating setting.
9. Unplug your mobile phone as soon as it’s finished charging
10. Defrost your fridge/freezer regularly
11. Do your weekly shopping in a single trip
12. Hang out your washing on the line rather than using the dryer
13. Fill your dishwasher and washing machine with one full load-this will save you water, electricity and detergent!
14. Recycle your ‘grey’ water
15. Avoid buying ‘over packaged’ goods
16. Avoid leaving your computer and monitor on when away from your desk
17. Use both sides of the paper when printing
18. Buy local fruit and vegetables and avoid buying out of season foods which may have been flown in.
19. Don’t buy bottled water if your tap water is safe to drink
20. If you drive to work, try car sharing with a work colleague.

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