15 April 2007

“Corporate responsibility and climate change: if you want something done properly, do it yourself.”

In my last opinion piece, I mentioned a few of the “corporate responsibility” initiatives that Deadline is involved in. Now I want to expand on one of them that is very much “flavor of the month” with the mainstream media.

If there’s one thing I have learnt in 11 years as a business owner and observer/student of politics (and occasional activist), it is that you cannot rely on governments to consistently do the right thing about the environment. They have too many competing agendas and the politics is too complex. If you don’t believe me, then seek an opinion from someone that deals with this on a daily basis, like Senator Natasha Stott Despoja

Some would argue this is a very jaded and pessimistic view, and maybe they’re right, but I believe my opinion to be simply realistic and pragmatic. I’m going to try not comment on the broader issue of economies and societies ruled by market forces versus those regulated by governments and all the hybrids thereof, but I am going to pass comment on the Kyoto Protocol.

I do not endorse our current Federal Government’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, nor do I think that the Opposition’s policies are well considered solutions to our problem, but I will say that I take responsibility for my contribution to climate change. Further, I do not expect our government(s) to cover my proverbial backside for it. This is because I understand the virtual impossibility of governments (Local, State or Federal) to control and regulate something as massive and complex as carbon emissions.

So, back to the title of this opinion piece: “if you want something done properly, do it yourself”.

As of the 2006/2007 financial year, the Directors and staff of Deadline Media take full responsibility for our company’s carbon dioxide emissions.

We have had a C02 audit done by Carbon Planet and have paid for our carbon emissions to be offset. The resulting report, which is both detailed and comprehensive, can be found here.

For the number crunchers, the total dollar cost of both the audit and purchase of the necessary carbon credits was 0.23% of turnover. That’s right: just over one quarter of 1% of turnover to completely off-set a full year of C02 emissions. We have decided to absorb this as a necessary overhead to conduct our business in a responsible and ethical manner.

Deadline Media will continue to do this until our society comes up with better way to manage climate change at a macroeconomic level. I need to express one more thing from my soapbox: it is clear t me that if every business in Australia took responsibility for its C02 emissions in the next year or so, we would smash the Kyoto Protocol targets to smithereens and set a great example or real and tangible corporate responsibility to the rest of the world.

If you are personally interested in off-setting your carbon emissions, or you would like to get an audit for your business so you can take your own corporate responsibility to a new level, let me know and I’ll hook you up with my contact at Carbon Planet.