The Latch has partnered with Suncorp Bank to launch our sustainability vertical and deliver sustainability content that helps our readers drive positive action in their everyday lives, such as figuring out what your carbon footprint is and how to offset it. Suncorp Bank is committed to providing banking services that are good for your world, our world and the world. Find out more here.
In the world of sustainability, there’s always more to learn. At The Latch, we’re committed to exactly that — learning more about sustainability and speaking to experts, all in an effort to do better. Enter: Carbon offsetting.
Technically speaking, carbon offsetting is the process of counterbalancing the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG) a person (or company, like The Latch or Suncorp Bank) has directly or indirectly produced by contributing to projects around the world that are taking action to prevent, reduce, or remove these emissions from the atmosphere.
In layman’s terms, this involves calculating your personal (or business) emissions over a period of time and then purchasing carbon offset credits that have been generated by reforestation or renewable energy projects (just to name a couple).
One popular type of carbon offsetting is reforesting and planting trees, and there’s a very good reason for that. Trees store carbon in their branches, leaves, and trunk. Essentially, they pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and then convert it into carbon that is stored in what we’d call wood (the trunk, branches, and so forth). So, the more trees that are planted, the more carbon dioxide that’s removed from the atmosphere.
Why Are We Offsetting Our Partnership With Suncorp Bank?
According to The Shift Project, a Paris-based climate think tank, our tech habits — including our internet usage at work, our personal phones, and yes, even scrolling TikTok — are responsible for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions. As a digital company that actively creates useful sustainability content, and recently launched an entire sustainability vertical with Suncorp Bank in the effort to make greener choices more accessible for us all, we weren’t super hot on that stat. So we decided to do something about it.
In an effort to offset our own digital (and, therefore, carbon) footprint, The Latch launched a new initiative called “Ready, Steady, Offset”. It’s our version of walking the talk. “This is just the start of our sustainability journey,” says Amanda Bardas, publisher of The Latch. “We’re in phase one and know we have work to do to achieve our goal, which is to become carbon positive.”
How Are We Doing It?
Unfortunately, we’re not experts on the planting trees front, so we enlisted the help of a company that is: the Australian charity, Carbon Positive Australia. For the past 21 years, Carbon Positive Australia has been committed to planting trees locally, where they can guarantee that all trees planted are native, biodiverse, and monitored for 100 years to ensure the donation offers value long term.
“To date we have restored over 5,000 hectares, planted over six million trees, and captured 668,799 tonnes of carbon, collaborating with landholders, communities, and environmental organisations,” explains Catherine Patterson from Carbon Positive Australia.
For our sustainability partnership with Suncorp Bank, it was important to us all to ensure we’re doing our part to restore the planet. To date, we have planted 419 trees in Australia to offset the carbon footprint created through all the useful content you’ve been reading over the past few months. We’re really proud of this and hope that you love to see it!
To learn more about carbon offsetting and sustainability (particularly how you can make greener choices in your own life), head here.
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