Jensen PLUS is now carbon neutral!
This month the Jensen PLUS team were very proud to be certified as a carbon neutral organisation under the Australian Government’s Climate Active programme.
“Our team are already committed to sustainable development. It’s part of what we do professionally as urban planners, urban designers and landscape architects” says Jensen PLUS Director Michael McKeown.
“We are also committed to taking action to address climate change, an issue which we as a team and as individuals are concerned about.
Climate Active certification has encouraged us to take practical steps as a business – like purchasing 100% renewable electricity for our office, reducing travel, and minimising waste – and also to communicate our approach with our colleagues and clients.
We were also spurred to action by the hot and smoky summer of 2019/20, which was affecting our ability to work, due to heat waves, and affecting the lives of our friends and families. Big fires in the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island were close to home, and we had to do something.
As professionals we also want to show our industry colleagues that they can affect change too. Businesses like ours need to take a leadership role on this issue. Climate Active certification is one way we can do this.”
Looking to the future, carbon neutral certification is hoped to positively shape the projects that Jensen PLUS get to work on.
“We do hope to work with more and more clients – in the planning and development sectors – who prioritise sustainability in their projects and will see the value of working with teams like us who share these values and have invested in them.
We didn’t seek certification to save money. In fact we are prepared to spend money to make a difference for the climate and the environment.
We also believe that demonstrating our carbon credentials will help attract staff to join our team who share our values.”
Jensen PLUS also encourage our colleagues in the industry to consider taking steps to making their own organisation carbon neutral.
“We’ve been inspired by other organisations like Uniting Communities and DSquared Consultin, and now we also want to show our industry colleagues that they can affect change too.
For a small consultancy business like ours, making the change to carbon neutral operations was relatively easy and inexpensive. It’s something I’d encourage every small business to look at. And if you’d like to know more about how we became carbon neutral, call us for a chat!” said Michael.
More information is also available at climateactive.org.au
