A Sustainable Journey Towards Zero
We catch up with AfMA President Lee Sauerwald to learn more about how fleets can start their zero-emissions journey .
WORDS BY DANIEL BRAID
When we talk about net carbon zero what exactly do we mean ?
Net carbon zero is a state where there ’ s no net impact on the climate from carbon emissions . You ’ ll hear the term net zero . There ’ s a lot of organisations , states and even countries that are coming out with these net zero targets . So it ’ s net carbon emissions being zero . Uniting Communities has been a certified carbon neutral organisation since 2015 and we purchase carbon offsets to get that certification .
What net zero means is you can still produce some carbon emissions but it ’ s a stricter test . You ’ re only able to neutralise some of those processes by removing and storing carbon that ’ s already been emitted into the atmosphere . So carbon reduction and elimination must come first and then for those that you just can ’ t eliminate , you can then use carbon removals to get you back to net zero .
Your organisation has ramped up its commitment to the environment by announcing its intention to become a net zero organisation by 2035 . Why is it important to have this commitment in place ?
Uniting Communities is a community service organisation . That ’ s our core of what we do , but we acknowledge the emerging impacts of climate change . We really do believe that taking collective action to reduce our carbon emissions is in the best interests of our clients , our staff , our volunteers and the wider community .
We committed all the way back in 2010 from our board to become carbon neutral and put into place this carbon commitment policy . It ’ s been a 10-year journey - we ’ ve got to this point and now these are really the next steps . We are looking to do even better for the next 10-15 years as we head towards 2035 .
What initiatives have already been carried out so far at Uniting Communities in terms of the vehicles you ’ ve changed or are looking to get bring in ?
We ’ ve made a number of changes . It was all the way back in 2010 when Uniting Communities were fortunate enough to pick up AfMA ’ s Fleet Environment Award that year . That was predominantly achieved back then by scaling down the size of our fleet to smaller , more fuelefficient vehicles . And that really kicked us off and started us on that pathway . And since then , as we
12 ISSUE 30 AUGUST 2021 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU