TSA Group goes carbon neutral with green scheme and local purchase of community carbon credits
TSA Group, Australia’s leading specialist in Customer Experience (CX) consultancy and services, is proud to announce that it has been certified as the first Australian-based carbon neutral operator in the Contact Centre Outsourcing (CCO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector.
Following an audit conducted by building services and sustainability consultants Cundall, the certification has been confirmed by Climate Active, the government-backed carbon regulator.
Click here to view TSA in the listing of Australian companies that have achieved carbon neutrality.
“This is a significant milestone for TSA Group and further demonstrates our leadership in the Australian Customer Experience and BPO sector,” commented Luke Kenny, CEO of TSA. “Our role when providing customer experience solutions for our clients is to connect consumers to some of the biggest brands in Australia, many of whom are well advanced in their own carbon neutral journey. Achieving carbon neutral status demonstrates our desire to reflect our clients’ values as they also strive for sustainable business practices. For us, it’s also a process of realigning our own thinking to become more sustainable.”
TSA commenced its carbon neutral journey with a series of environmental initiatives designed to minimise the entire company’s carbon output. This was led by Francis Stockwell, TSA’s Group Sustainability Manager.
Francis said, “We felt strongly that caring for the environment was a big part of doing business ethically. We have partnered with consultants such as Cundall and CitySwitch – a program which helps commercial tenants reduce their energy use – to measure and reduce our carbon footprint. Achieving carbon neutrality is a huge step towards a climate positive future.”
Phill Raso, WA CitySwitch Program Manager, said: “Carbon neutral is not yet common-place for organisations. There are lots of commitments and lots of talk, but few can make the claim today. It takes business leaders that have evolved their world views beyond the norm – to say that profits, growth, status and other metrics by which we measure corporate success, aren’t mutually exclusive with the wellbeing of people and the planet. The up and coming crop of carbon neutral organisations are redefining what it means to be a successful business.”
TSA’s green initiatives
TSA’s first steps towards carbon neutrality five years ago was to make changes to the way the business operates and to its commercial premises, including:
- Investing in a sophisticated building energy metering system to pinpoint and improve power consumption. Boilers, PCs, TVs and other electrical equipment were placed on sleep settings when not in use; adjustments were made to air conditioning schedules, server rooms, and light settings. These small tweaks added up to a significant reduction in overall energy consumption.
- Implementing a series of ‘green initiatives’ designed to minimise the use of office consumables. For example, a printer management solution which ‘defaulted’ print settings to double sided black and white, and eliminated wasted printing, resulted in a huge reduction in paper and ink.
- Designing an in-office recycling hub with 11 waste streams, and encouraging staff to bring their recycling, such as plastic bags and e-waste, to work for disposal.
- Reducing travel by investing in collaboration tools which enable virtual meetings and work from home solutions. These green initiatives contributed to TSA being announced as the winner of CitySwitch’s National partnership of the year in 2017 (alongside HFM), as well as being awarded signatory of the year in 2018 for WA, and again in 2019.
Gaining accreditation
“With all these initiatives in place the next step was to measure our carbon footprint,” explains Francis. “We engaged Cundall as a Registered Climate Active Consultant. Following the process of the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard, they helped us collect data on our consumption of electricity, gas and water in the building. They also measured how much fuel the corporate car fleet uses – which is easy as we don’t have one – and how much for taxi trips and air travel. Everything we do as a company has a carbon value set by Climate Active, based on international research and standards, from the food we purchase to the IT and other supplies we procure. It even accounts for the type of refrigerants used in our air conditioning units. The total carbon footprint is then checked by an independent Registered Greenhouse & Energy Auditor.
Madlen Jannaschk, [ESD Consultant] of Cundall said: “When TSA approached us it was clear from our first conversations that we had a shared passion. TSA has been utterly committed to reaching its target of carbon neutrality and has wasted no time demonstrating their commitment with action. It’s been a pleasure to work with them.”
The final step – carbon offsetting
Acknowledging that it would be difficult for a business operating from city offices to reduce its carbon footprint to zero, TSA also sought to offset the reduced amount of carbon it produces by purchasing Australian Community Carbon Credit Units (ACCU).
“By purchasing carbon credits from premium local projects here in Australia, TSA hopes to provide an environmental, social and cultural benefit,” said CEO, Luke Kenny. “The premium credits we purchased come from the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, and support projects such as cultural savanna burnings by traditional owners, which prevents large bushfires and the subsequent release of carbon. Another reforestation project reintroduces native flora and fauna to the land in areas where it has been over grazed. It gives us a tangible, and almost touchable, connection with the programs we’re supporting. We’ve learned more about ourselves, improved the efficiency of our offices and created opportunities for our people to become more involved while also supporting an Indigenous community’s own carbon reduction efforts.”
Commenting on TSA’s commitment and success in achieving carbon neutrality, Phill Raso of CitySwitch had nothing but praise and urged other companies to follow suit. “TSA’s strategy in going carbon neutral is one that can and should be replicated by every organisation. In going carbon neutral, they’ve sought to value-add by supporting indigenous communities through the purchase of ACCUs, fostered some great partnerships. improved the efficiency of their workplaces and created environments for their employees to thrive. To top it off, they’ve done all this in record time. TSA showcase what sustainable organisations are all about.”
TSA are Australia’s market leading specialists in CX consultancy and services. We are passionate about revolutionising the way brands connect with Australians. How? By combining our local expertise with the most sophisticated customer experience technology on earth, and delivering with an expert team of customer service consultants who know exactly how to help brands care for their customers.