By Chris Nicholls
SYDNEY: Sony Australia today has announced it will go green for its corporate travel, offsetting carbon emissions generated by its corporate car fleet and air travel through a tie-up with Landcare Australia’s CarbonSMART scheme.
The CarbonSMART program generates carbon credits from biodiversity plantings, which are then sold to organisations who wish to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon credits enable CarbonSMART to provide a financial incentive for landholders to maintain eligible vegetation on their land, by calculating the amount of carbon absorbed by the vegetation.
“Sony, as a global corporation, invests heavily in R&D aimed at reducing its environmental footprint. It is important to us that we carry this through at the local market level. Joining the Landcare CarbonSMART program is one of Sony Australia’s behind-the-scenes initiatives to contribute to sustainable environmental management. We see this as upholding our responsibility to our staff, retail partners and customers,” said Sony Australia, managing director, Carl Rose.
“Sony Australia and Landcare Australia have had a working partnership for the last six years, so we have confidence in the integrity of their carbon trading program.”
Landcare Australia chief executive, Brian Scarsbrick, said, “Consumers and governments are driving companies to be more accountable for the environmental impact of their operations, in particular greenhouse gas emissions. It is extremely encouraging that Sony is taking an important step in the fight against global warming and joining this initiative.”
The offsetting of approximately 885 tonnes of carbon per year from Sony’s vehicle fleet and 2184 tonnes from air travel will be offset will be equal to investing in about 600 hectares of native biodiversity plantings, said Scarsbrick. ‘
“To put this in context, Sony’s contribution is securing the life of the equivalent of 18,000 tennis courts’ worth of native forest.”