Environics Communications reaches carbon neutrality

June 9, 2008 – Environics Communications has achieved carbon neutral status. Since committing to become carbon neutral in January 2008, Environics worked with the Pembina Institute and followed a strict protocol to plan and execute its climate change strategy. The firm met the target earlier this month and plans to continue to reduce its carbon footprint each year.

In order to achieve carbon neutral status the agency first created an inventory of Environics' GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from the operations of all four offices. The baseline was set for 2007, as the data was the most complete. Factors evaluated included staff commutes, business travel, office paper usage and heating and electricity consumption. The finalized inventory was then analyzed by the Pembina Institute to determine the full amount of CO2 emissions generated by Environics, as well as to identify opportunities for reduction measures to further decrease the company's carbon footprint.

"Our team has established Environics as a best practice leader for our industry in the greening of business," said Bruce MacLellan, President of Environics Communications. "By working with Pembina, we have opened ourselves to full transparency and invested the dollars required to neutralize our impact on the environment."

Emissions that could not be reduced by internal efficiency improvements have been neutralized by the purchase of offsets from First Climate LLC for the Toronto, Washington and Metro New York offices. The Montreal office purchased offsets for its operations from Planetair. In total, Environics purchased 239 metric tons of CO2 equivalent to neutralize the full amount of their 2007 GHG emissions. All offsets purchased are certified Gold Standard, and will go towards supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development projects. For example, some of the offsets purchased will come from a wind farm project in Te Apiti, in the Manawatu/Ruahine region of the lower North Island in New Zealand, and over five years will generate emission reductions of 1,544,075 t CO2e.

"We applaud Environics Communications' commitment to carbon neutrality," says Katie Laufenberg, an Eco-efficiency Analyst with the Pembina Institute. "While purchasing high quality offsets is one piece of the puzzle, a continuous commitment to reducing internal emissions is critical to legitimate carbon neutrality. Even before engaging us, Environics had launched several exciting environmental initiatives to reduce their GHG emissions. With ongoing emission reductions and a dedication to carbon neutrality, Environics is setting a strong leadership example for its industry peers."

In 2007, Environics began sourcing the majority of its electrical power from clean, emission-free providers. Wherever possible, the office lighting was switched from standard incandescent light-bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL) that provides substantial energy savings. The agency significantly reduced paper use and implemented a standard practice of double-sided printing. In the largest offices, employees no longer use water coolers, which eliminates the environmental impact of production, delivery and removal.

To reach their internal GHG emissions reduction target for 2008, the offices are making even more changes:

• Technology: Wherever possible, technology and hardware are upgraded to models that require less energy to operate.
• Paper use: All offices have switched to 100% post-consumer recycled paper and further strategies are being explored to continue to decrease printing and paper waste
• Business Travel: Efforts to minimize air travel by the exploration of conference technology and plans to reduce taxi travel are in place, including encouraging staff to travel to meetings using public transportation or bicycle whenever possible.
• Employee Commutes: Environics strives for greener employee commutes. For example: a bike-share program has been launched to encourage cycling as an alternative to driving to work. Already in place is an employee credit of $250 for the purchase of a bicycle.