This story was submitted by Envato
Envato is now completely carbon neutral! Here's how we've committed to reducing our emissions, planting more trees and offsetting our carbon footprint.
Balancing purpose and profit has always been at the heart of the Envato business. In line with our mission, company values, and commitments as a certified B-Corp, Envato’s sustainability committee has been working on a comprehensive sustainability project designed to measure and offset our carbon footprint.
In partnership with Trace – a Sydney-based climate tech startup – we’re pleased to announce that Envato is now officially carbon neutral! Delivering on our sustainability promise as a B-Corp, as well as the open letter we co-signed to the Australian Government calling for climate change action, Envato has committed to offsetting more carbon emissions than we’re producing as an organization.
“When we signed on to the To Whom It May Concern campaign, we made a pledge to be 100% renewable by 2030 and carbon zero by 2040,” says Envato’s CEO, Hichame Assi. “It’s a commitment which reflects not just our values, but a broader sense of how businesses can contribute to fighting climate change.”
Since Envato set out to become carbon neutral in September 2021, the company has offset over 2,700 tonnes of CO2 (enough emissions to fill 46,000 shipping containers), planted 23,000 trees, and gone completely carbon neutral.
This significant sustainability project is led by our Greener Good Sustainability Committee, which was formed with the purpose of reducing emissions produced by the company’s 100% remote workforce during Covid-19 lockdowns. It began as a way to take small but positive steps towards offsetting the impact of the business, with an end goal of eliminating Envato’s carbon footprint altogether.
“There was a bunch of work that went into gathering the data and input that allowed us to calculate our emissions, and then the team at Trace were able to take it and run with it,” explains Envato Senior Product Manager and Greener Good Sustainability Committee founder, Jimmy Joslin. “We were presented with Envato’s CO2 emissions, and Trace was able to obtain carbon credits to offset our output using projects aligned to the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They then helped us get to a position of ‘Carbon Positive’ by calculating our emissions and selecting meaningful projects that deliver carbon credits as well as investing in planting trees.”
In partnership with Trace, Envato is able to measure the amount of carbon that the business generates, globally. This includes not just our physical offices in Melbourne, Guadalajara, and Los Angeles, but also an estimate of the footprint of our tech cloud and remote teams around the globe.
Trace’s CEO and Co-Founder Catherine Long explains, “Envato is the perfect example of a fast-moving tech business that already has a demonstrable commitment to sustainability but needed a solution for measuring and managing their carbon footprint that matched the speed and efficiency of the way they work. We’re super proud that Envato chose Trace to be that solution and can’t wait to see how their whole team uses our software to support their journey to net-zero.”
But the work doesn’t stop there. To maintain our carbon-neutral status, we’ll be regularly recalculating our offsets in line with the pollution we’re producing as a company, as well as continually improving our practices to reduce emissions from the get-go.
In addition to being a significant environmental milestone, Envato’s carbon-neutral status has also had a positive impact on company morale – assuring employees that their environmental concerns are being heard and put into action.
“Being part of a company that actively strives to do the right thing and is willing to invest in social outcomes that are not just shifting needles towards our bottom line, is a game-changer,” says Jimmy. “In addition to employee outcomes, it’s important for us to lead by example, following in the footsteps of those before us who have paved the way to now inspire other organizations to take similar actions which will ultimately benefit all of us. This initiative speaks right to the core of what we’re trying to achieve in the sustainability space, and from here on out we’re going to continue to go beyond maintaining where we are now, and further into reducing our impact on the environment.”
To make your own commitment to reaching carbon zero, visit Trace and learn more about reducing and offsetting emissions and increasing your impact.
