Australia-headquartered MSP First Focus has partnered with carbon offset developer Carbon Neutral, with the aim of becoming carbon-negative by investing enough into carbon-sequestering efforts to exceed the company’s carbon emissions.
Carbon Neutral has been conducting carbon-offset efforts for more than 20 years, focusing on restoring cleared lands and preserving biodiversity while sequestering atmospheric carbon.
Carbon offsetting is a notoriously challenging area of emissions mitigation.
A for-profit company, Carbon Neutral offers several offset options that are certified by the Australian Carbon Credit Unit, including those from its Yarra Yarra Biodiversity reforestation project that has been certified by the international Gold Standard organisation.
Placing 28th in the 2021 CRN Australia Fast50, First Focus has offices across Australia, as well as in Manilla, Philippines and Auckland, New Zealand.
CEO Ross Sardi said that the decision to work with Carbon Neutral was spurred by a drive to help people use technology to make a difference, and expectations as an ISO 14001 (environmental management) certified company.
“There’s been a huge increase in demand for IT services. While a lot of this demand was due initially to the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic, the result is that IT is now creating opportunities for many people to work, communicate, and buy things remotely using technology,” he said.
With this increase in IT adoption, there comes an increased impact on the global environment – while remote work has decreased emissions caused by air travel and commuting, there have been adverse effects as well.
“For example, the increased energy consumption from ever-growing data centres, e-waste, and the almost disposable nature of consumer devices used to enable many work-from-home initiatives,” he said.
“We know we can use technology to reduce our impact. There’s a lot we can do with electric company cars, LED lighting, and energy-efficient servers. We can also choose providers in our supply chain who take climate issues seriously.
“And we want to be that company. We need to ensure that the choice to make a difference in people’s lives using technology is not at the expense of the world around us. So after reducing our impact as much as possible, we now want to offset the rest.”
