Businesses are increasingly working towards reducing their environmental impact. One of the most significant ways to do this is by reducing their carbon footprint, and this starts with monitoring carbon emissions.

According to the leading GHG Protocol corporate standard, a company's greenhouse gas emissions are classified into three scopes.

Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions
Scope 1 and 2 are mandatory to report, whereas scope 3 is voluntary and the hardest to monitor. However, companies succeeding in reporting all three scopes will gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Scope 1 emissions - are direct emissions from company-owned and controlled resources which are defined in four (4) categories:

1. Stationary combustion (e.g fuels, heating sources).                        
2. Mobile combustion is all vehicles owned or controlled by a firm, burning fuel (e.g. cars, vans, trucks).   
3. Fugitive emissions are leaks from greenhouse gases (e.g. refrigeration, air conditioning units.        
4. Process emissions are released during industrial processes, and on-site manufacturing (e.g. production of CO2 during cement manufacturing, factory fumes, chemicals).

 
Scope 2 emissions - are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, from a utility provider, being the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling, from which the emissions being released into the atmosphere.                                                                                                                            
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions - not included in scope 2 - that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. In other words, emissions are linked to the company's operations, and are separated into 15 categories:

Upstream Activities
Waste generated in operations
Purchased goods and services
Transportation and distribution
Capital goods
Fuel & energy related
Business travel
Employee commute
Leased assets
 
Downstream Activities
Investments
Franchises
Leased assets
End of life treatment of sold products
Use of sold products
Processing of sold products
Transportation and distribution

Contact Footprint Energy to discuss a potential business assessment of your Carbon Footprint.

Author - Paul Sedman

​Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste management commences with the planning and design of a project, which contributes to the amount of waste generated on a development project through decisions made at planning and design meetings, equally with construction site decisions.

Planning for procurement and transportation of construction products may start well for the initial project materials commencement stage, but incorrect material estimation, time management for delivery, and not allowing enough time at the planning stage creates problems right along the process.

​At the highly profit driven construction stage, time, cost and quality are at times higher on the agenda than environmental concerns, where waste reduction efforts can be challenged by inadequate waste management facilities, lack of site storage space, time constraints and poor waste reduction knowledge at site.

Issues causing concern for reducing landfill waste and preventing illegal dumping are ongoing, due to inappropriately designed landfill levy schemes, poor financial returns in waste methods and inconsistent regulatory measures.

Footprint Energy provides guidance on business waste management.
​Contact us to discuss your site and business waste needs. 

- Author, Paul Sedman

Australian energy needs have been largely met by fossil fuels to date with historical records first documenting the presence of coal in 1797 in New South Wales with later deposits mined in all states. Our low-cost coal resources have been responsible for powering the best percentage of Australia’s domestic electricity and underpinned some of the cheapest electricity in the world.

This has contributed to Australia’s complex and organised electrical infrastructure, and had it not been for the coal boom, our nation may not have much of the complex electrical framework we so heavily rely on in our homes, on our railways, in our factories and in our cities.

Our economic stability has been reinforced by the export of coal, without which may have seen particular struggle in our social, cultural and community growth.

Despite the limited lifespan of our coal resources, it has given us a much stronger foundation to move into renewable energy territory. Armed with usable infrastructure and a history of renewable energy resource exploration, the slow transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources has some superb headway. In 2024, renewable energy sources accounted for approx. 36% of Australia’s total electricity generation.


Author - Paul Sedman
​Reference: Australian energy history: A brief look back | Bulk Energy

Australia has historically relied on fossil fuels, particularly coal. Transitioning to clean energy sources, while managing economic implications & costs and ensuring energy security, presents a significant policy challenge. 
 
As the world's driest inhabited continent, and with climate models predicting longer, more severe droughts, water scarcity is a serious issue. There is an urgent need for innovative water management strategies and policies must address water conservation, allocation, and quality.
Land degradation and deforestation is a major concern. Land clearing for agricultural purposes and urban development is and has led to significant loss of habitat and biodiversity, soil degradation, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. This has cascading effects on ecosystems, making it a key sustainability challenge.
Australia’s unique biodiversity is under threat. Climate, invasive species, and habitat loss are major drivers of species extinction. Australia holds a significant proportion of the world’s unique species and ecosystems, making their conservation of global importance.
 
Australia has a unique challenge in addressing the health needs of its Indigenous population. Indigenous Australians have a lower life expectancy and higher rates of chronic disease compared to non-Indigenous Australians. The "Closing the Gap" policy has been implemented to address these disparities, but progress has been slow and uneven.
 
One of the most significant challenges is providing equitable healthcare access to remote and rural communities. Australia's vast geography and dispersed population can make it difficult to deliver health services, particularly specialist care, to remote areas. This can lead to disparities in health outcomes between urban and rural populations.
 
Australia is particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of climate, including heatwaves, bushfires, and changes in disease patterns. For example, the 2019-2020 bushfire season had significant immediate and long-term health impacts, including respiratory problems from smoke inhalation and mental health issues. Australia also has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world (Source: Cancer Council), due to our high levels of ultraviolet radiation. Ongoing public health campaigns about sun safety and significant research into prevention and treatment strategies have been needed to combat this.

-Author, Paul Sedman

REF: UTS, Shaping Policies for the Future - Session 3 2024

​All procurement has some level of impact on the environment that needs to be minimised to ensure sustainable procurement practices.

Many environmental impacts occur before a good or service is procured, for example, resource extraction, design development, manufacturing, transportation and storage, etc.
As a large purchasing body, government can minimise the environmental impacts of these frontend procurement activities by influencing supply market practices. Embedded impacts can be included as a criterion in the supplier selection process at the market analysis and market approach stage.

The greatest opportunity to influence environmental outcomes is by selecting products and services with the least ongoing environmental impacts, such as use of water, electricity and fuel, waste/disposal management, and impact on human health over the life of the product or service.
​
The following lifecycle stages impact on the environment:

• Raw materials - packaging and distribution
• Manufacture - transportation
• Operation and maintenance - monitoring and evaluation recycle / reuse
• Use - change management
• Disposal - transportation

To reduce your environmental impact, focus on:

• managing unnecessary consumption to reduce waste
• taking a whole of life approach to assessing the extent of environmental impacts
• building environmental considerations into the value for money assessment of a procurement activity
• where appropriate, engaging with suppliers who are committed to better environmental performance

Author - Paul Sedman

Ref: Victoria Government, Reviewed 05 October 2022, vic.gov.au

Gas shortages loom as power bills to rise by up to 31%
What alternate options are available for long term Reliable Baseload Power?

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS?

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE) is a Learned Academy of around 900 independent, non-political experts. ATSE’s view is that there should be a national dialogue about nuclear energy, rather than it being dismissed due to a legislative ban. ATSE recognises that nuclear energy can only be pursued with community consent, and that any market activity should take place within clearly defined regulatory parameters, but it needs consideration as part of the energy mix. The risks of nuclear energy should be considered against the health and environmental costs of fossil fuels.               
Source: ATSE submission to the Low Emissions Technology Statement 2022 consultation, 6 February 2022

Interesting facts...

• As of May 2022, there were 439 nuclear reactors in operation in some 30 countries around the world. Ref, “Published by Statista Research Department, Jan 30, 2023”
• As of May 2022, there were 53 nuclear reactors under construction worldwide.

Source: Published by Statista Research Department, Jan 25, 2023

• Since 1970 it is estimated that nuclear power has saved 72 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. Ref, “Published by downtoearth.org.in/news/renewable-energy/nuclear-energy, Tuesday 02 November 2021”
• The first nuclear power plant was commissioned in 1954 and decommissioned in 2002 after 48 years of operation with no radioactive release to the environment.

Source: Published by Peter Kaiser & Michael Madsen, IAEA Division of Public Information

• Nuclear Power INCIDENTS - 
  
  1. 1957 Cumberland (now Cumbria), UK. Human error - Caused 200 cancer deaths.
     
  2. 1961 Idaho Falls was due to human caused the reactor to go critical, caused 3 deaths.                                                                       
     
  3. 1979 Three Mile Island was due to human error with no release of radioactivity,

      It was contained due to high safety factors.

• 1986 Chernobyl was due directly to the breakup of the old USSR. It had no maintenance, and the plant was falling apart.
• 2011 Fukushima was due to extremely poor site planning by building a nuclear power plant at sea level in a region with regular history of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Source: Published by Union of Concerned Scientists, Oct 1, 2013
 
Australia needs reliable 'Baseload Power' or our society, communities, industries will struggle to survive through power shortages, blackouts and higher power prices.

Definition: Baseload Power refers to generation resources that generally run continuously throughout the year and operate at stable output levels. The continuous operation of baseload resources makes economic sense because they have low running costs relative to other sources of power. The value of baseload plants is mostly economic, and not related to their ability to follow the constantly varying system demand. Baseload plants include coal-fired and gas-fired combined-cycle power plants.(Source:https://arena.gov.au/blog/national-energy-market/).

Author - Paul Sedman

We are currently preparing to support the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the aim of being part of the business community offering environmental and sustainability services as part of the Queensland Government's team of local, sustainable, ethical and diverse suppliers.

​
Footprint is excited with the prospect of contributing to this exciting event which will emphasise and showcase innovative and impactful sustainability and environmental strategies, and provide significant economic and social benefits to the QLD community and beyond borders to the rest of Australia. ​

Nature positive action from business, industry, government and financial institutions is required to help create a new operating  model or platform, which is drawn from the concepts of regeneration, resilience and circularity.  Repairing and restoring the natural environment, whilst extracting the various resources from the environment or impacting the environment from business activities,  provides an opportunity for nature and business activities to achieve balance - this also make good sustainable economic sense. 

Footprint Energy services incorporate a 'nature positive' approach in  strategies and actions plans  we help create for our clients' businesses or activities. 

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed in Montreal on December 2022 by the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and which is strongly connected/supportive of the 'nature positive' approach, presents a revised focus for our  relationship with nature, with business and industry sector action vital to the mission of halting and reversing nature loss by 2030.

Footprint was recently a guest of the QLD Premier,  at the Premier's Breakfast last month. The focus of the breakfast was to share the vision for the Olympics and to help guide businesses wiling and able to support the event, to set the scene for working with the QLD Government to create a successful event. Environmental sustainability was relayed as a major theme.

Footprint is preparing for the event through setting up collaborations with key stakeholders in the region, supporting the QLD Government as opportunities arise, and to contribute their skills, experience and passion to contributing to the success of the event. With Footprint's head office based in Brisbane, we are well placed to be in the 'front foot' to hit the ground running with planning for the event. 

Contact us

Over the past three decades, there’s been a paradigm shift in attitude towards sustainability. Previously condemned to an afterthought, corporate sustainability has now become part of the mainstream discourse, with more than eight in 10 CEOs believing that businesses now must lead efforts to deliver on environmental goals.

I strongly believe that organizations now have an enormous responsibility and opportunity to move towards more sustainable business models with economies now returning to pre-pandemic productivity(opens in new tab) levels.

As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals move to the center of decision-making criteria for both investors and tender processes, the organizations that succeed in the years to come will be those that make sustainability a core tenet of their operations.

While the manufacturing industry has made significant strides in boosting its ESG credentials over recent years, there is undoubtedly more that can be done, especially for organizations with the stated goal of becoming net zero. From sourcing to engineering, production to transportation, a concerted effort is required across sectors if meaningful and long-lasting change is to be achieved. This will not only help avert the climate crisis but also help increase profitability; almost half of manufacturing executives report that their environmental sustainability initiatives measurably boosted their corporate financial performance.

Author - Paul Sedman

Ref: published By CP Gurnani TechRadar Pro 15 February 2023