Alto Hotel on Bourke – Melbourne’s First City Hotel to be certified carbon neutral

27 September 2009, Australia: Alto Hotel on Bourke has achieved the prestigious NoCO2, or Carbon Neutral Certification through the Carbon Reduction Institute, Australia’s leading climate change certification consultant. Having achieved NoCO2 certification means that the Hotel’s operations have zero impact towards climate change.
To achieve certification, Alto Hotel undertook a comprehensive carbon emissions audit that captured and quantified all of the hotel’s greenhouse gas emissions. The audit included emissions from fuel and energy consumption onsite; staff travel, water and waste usage and flights taken by Alto Hotel staff. In addition, the embodied emissions in the hotel’s assets and expenses items were also audited to capture indirect emissions from supply chain purchases and any products bought, used and sold through the hotel.

Prior to certification, Alto Hotel had already committed to reducing their carbon footprint through offsetting emissions from electricity usage, fuel and flights directly with their service providers. NoCO2 certification furthers the hotel’s strong commitment to sustainability and demonstrates ongoing efforts to contribute to a healthier environment.

The Alto Hotel on Bourke has enhanced its reputation as one of Melbourne’s leading hotels in guest satisfaction as well as innovation by becoming the Australia’s first carbon neutral hotel. Some food & beverage style hotels, cabins and cottages have offset carbon from some of their services or provide an option for guests to pay for offsets, however Alto is the first city hotel to provide all of its services and facilities as carbon neutral within its pricing.

About NoCO2 Certification
Managed by the Carbon Reduction Institute, NoCO2 certification is the highest level of carbon certification offered in Australia. The carbon credits used in the certification program received a ranking in the highest category offered in Australia from the Carbon Offset Watch, the first independent ranking of Australian offset providers.

The NoCO2 standard gives businesses a comprehensive overview of their impact on climate change while also providing the option to immediately reduce and offset this impact. The carbon performance of each certified business is monitored quarterly, and NoCO2 businesses undergo annual re-auditing to ensure their carbon claims remain valid and substantiated. Achieving NoCO2 Certification means that a business is carbon neutral and that it has completely removed its climate change impacts.

Rob Cawthorne, Managing director of the Carbon Reduction Institute said: “Certifying Alto Hotel on Bourke has been a delight for us. The hotel is already committed to sustainable tourism practices through various initiatives and all of the hotel’s staff members were really keen to move forward towards becoming completely carbon neutral. It has been an exemplary carbon audit which was a great experience for our team. The level of commitment that Alto Hotel showed prior to certification is rare and deserves the highest credits. Alto Hotel can now make an even bigger difference for our planet by providing carbon neutral accommodation, and we certainly hope that others will follow their lead.”

About Alto Hotel on Bourke
Alto Hotel on Bourke is located in the centre of Melbourne’s business district. The boutique Alto Hotel, which combines environmental construction technology and best practice initiatives with style, charm and a high level of comfort, has proven to be popular with business and leisure travellers many of whom have become fiercely loyal. The hotel provides the previously missing link for a sustainable and carbon neutral travel experience.

The hotel is unique in that it proves that being eco friendly does not mean you have to “rough it” in a natural setting or use lower grade products and services to leave a smaller footprint. It is possible to enjoy a 4 star hotel in an urban location and minimise your impact on the environment. You can put your head down in comfort and let your mind rest easy knowing that your environmental footprint is minimised.

The building, which brings together classic architecture of late 19th century and a contemporary interior plus a range of inspired services, is rich in environmental features including double insulation, staggered stud construction on all lightweight walls and ceilings, double glazed; tinted & laminated windows & 100% wind powered green electricity.

“We have already been recognised as a leader in sustainable tourism yet wanted to ensure we continue to innovate and show that it is possible to have guilt free travel without compromising on quality or service” said Gary Stickland, General Manager of Alto Hotel on Bourke. “Instead of simply paying someone to make our environmental footprint go away we have ensured that we have minimised our output as much as practical first, then made the decision to offset the remaining carbon that we have not been able to remove from our operations” he said. “All of our environmental initiatives have been made by considering our guests first. This means that some guests are not even aware that they have stayed in a sustainable hotel as we have designed our programs to effectively be behind the scenes and not require any effort from our guests, unless they want to be more involved.” The hotel provides the key ingredient for the potential to have a low carbon holiday or business trip to Melbourne.

For more information visit www.altohotel.com.au

Walk Against Warming

This year's Walk Against Warming will be held on 12 December 2009 - the International Day of Global Action on Climate Change and the midway point of the UN talks in Copenhagen.

Join tens of thousands of passionate people walking on this significant day and make your voice heard in Copenhagen.

For more information visit http://www.walkagainstwarming.org/.

One flat white coming up, you want Carbon with that?

Your daily cup of coffee might just be costing you more than you think. New research from the Carbon Reduction Institute shows each latté consumed has the same environmental impact as leaving your 60 watt bathroom light globe on for 3 hours. Times that by 2 lattés a day, 5 times a week and over a year you just left that light globe on for 2 months.

By calculating the footprint from their packaging, airflights, power, water and vehicles among all else, Jasper Coffee has determined the real cost of consuming the revered flat white that keeps us perky during the day.

The impact of climate change is not just in Antarctica. In the Tropics where the luscious caffeine crop grows, growers are noticing unusual weather changes with extended heavy rains in Peru and Colombia resulting in volume shortfalls around 30%.

“By becoming a 100% Carbon Neutral Coffee company our vision over 3 years of collecting data and taking responsibility for our carbon emissions has come to fruition,” advised Jasper Coffee Managing Director, Wells Trenfield.

“Over the years, we have always been conscious of the coffees we choose with respect to sustainability. We have 22 shade grown coffees and 15 Fairtrade Organic, along with a raft of other Fairtrade Organic products and recyclable take away cups. Having measured our carbon emissions we have now offset 100% of our operations with an amazing renewable energy project in India,” he added.

Jasper Coffee is dedicated to joining the fight against climate change and urges other organisations across the country to do the same. The company’s greenhouse gas inventory has now been audited and approved by the Carbon Reduction Institute.

Every cup of coffee has a footprint. By becoming a 100% Carbon Neutral Coffee Company, Jasper Coffee is leading the way in creating a sustainable future. It means you can now enjoy your coffee with conscience.

So perk up, and don’t forget to switch off that light!

You can buy your Carbon Neutral Coffee from Jasper Coffee at www.jaspercoffee.com

Emissions Trading Scheme delayed

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd recently announced that the Federal Government will delay its emissions trading scheme by one year. The government had also decided it would consider altering its carbon reduction target range of 5-15% to 5-25% of 2000 emission levels by 2020, but only if there was a global agreement to limit the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to 450ppm. At the same time the government is talking about increasing the subsidies to so called trade exposed, highly emissions intensive industries from a 90% to 95% free allocation of permits for 5 years, or from a 60% to 70% free allocation for industries in the second category of heavy polluting industries. The government has also stated that it would set a very, very low price of $10 per permit for the first period of 2011 and 2012.

Before this announcement the Australian Greens had made an offer to the government to break the political impasse on emissions trading, moving the minimum reduction level they would accept from 40% to a range of 25 to 40%. The Greens set the 25% minimum reduction as it is the lowest absolute figure accepted by scientist as environmentally credible, the target recommended in the Garnaut report, the bottom end of the Bali negotiating range for rich countries (25-40%) and is achievable at the same costs to the overall economy as a 5% reduction according to the government's own modeling.

Although the emissions trading scheme had major issues, such as the miniscule target and massive transfer of wealth to the heavily polluting industries, the emissions trading scheme was one of the differentiators between Liberal and Labor policies at the last election. Only 6 months ago Penny Wong stood up at the global climate conference in Poland and told the conference that "in 2010 Australia will implement our comprehensive carbon pollution reduction scheme. It will reform and transform our economy".

The government faces a major challenge to get the ETS legislation through the senate when parliament returns. It seems that it will try to do this by appeasing big business and aligning themselves with the party they replaced rather than fulfilling the commitment they made to voters when elected.

by Andrew Barson, Projects Director at the Carbon Reduction Institute

What does it mean to be carbon neutral?

Organisations across the world, ranging from small local businesses to large-scale international enterprises, are increasingly announcing their intention to become ‘carbon neutral’. But despite the term being used frequently, there is still a common misunderstanding about what it means. So what exactly is a carbon neutral business?

Carbon neutral refers to an individual, an organisation or even an event or meeting that has had its full climate change impact calculated and negated, usually through a combination of reduction measures and carbon offsetting.

For an organisation, this typically includes calculating all greenhouse gases related to running the business, such as electricity and gas usage, waste; staff and other business related travel, and embodied emissions in products and services sold and used. The sum of greenhouse gases emitted by a business is called its carbon footprint.

Given the complexity of these calculations and also the diversity of operations differing from business to business, a customised carbon audit should always be the first step in becoming carbon neutral. There are different organisations offering to for this for you and it’s worth shopping around for the most comprehensive one to avoid being questioned about the integrity of your claims.

Once an organisation has determined its carbon footprint, it can start investigating in measures to reduce that footprint. Depending on the nature of a business, there are usually easy-to-implement measures, the low hanging fruits of climate change; that will immediately save greenhouse gases and also money.

A good example for this is energy efficiency. A business that consumes a large amount of electricity can lower its usage and the money spent on power simply by installing energy saving lighting and by making sure all lights are turned off at night when the office is unoccupied. The same goes for all other office appliances such as printers, scanners and even the air conditioner.

In any business, there will always be emissions that cannot be reduced, such as the emissions from transporting goods to a store, or the electricity used to power computers throughout the day. Luckily, these emissions can be offset through the purchase of carbon credits.

Carbon credits are a mechanism that allows organisations to help reduce greenhouse gases in a project somewhere around the globe equivalent to the emissions it puts out. Carbon credits can be thought of as trading certificates representing one tonne of CO2-equivalent gas each.

For example, a business may have had its carbon footprint calculated and determined that it emits 90 tonnes or CO2-e annually through its operations. That business can then choose to purchase 90 carbon credits from a project of its choice, such as a wind farm, or an energy efficiency project, or a methane abatement project, to offset those 90 tonnes. That would make the business carbon neutral.

However, there is much more to being carbon neutral than simply installing energy efficient light bulbs and buying carbon credits. On one hand, with becoming carbon neutral comes along a great responsibility to educate staff, implement sustainable practices into ones personal life, and spread the message about the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

On the other hand, becoming carbon neutral brings along great competitive advantages and opens up new markets as consumers and businesses alike increasingly demand carbon neutral products and services. A lot of businesses find that becoming carbon neutral not only improves their public image but also grows their customer base, helps them sell more products and increases profit!

In essence, becoming carbon neutral means taking effective action on climate change while growing your business and winning new customers. So what are you waiting for?

Businesses Greenhouse Gas Reduction Tips

• Use energy efficiently: For an office based business, electricity usage is often the largest carbon footprint component. Make sure lights are only on if they are really needed, turn computers off at night, and install timer switches for office appliances. This will not only save energy but also money!
• Recycle waste: By recycling paper, plastics, metals, food scraps and electronic waste, you make sure those don’t end up in landfill where they decompose slowly and produce dangerous greenhouse gases. You will also help save resources. Contact your local council if you’re unsure about what can be recycled in your area.
• Become carbon neutral: By having your carbon footprint assessed and becoming carbon neutral certified, you can make sure that your operations have a zero impact on climate change. Please visit www.noco2.com.au* if you’re interested to find out more.

*The Carbon Reduction Institute is Australia’s leading carbon management consultancy. Please visit www.noco2.com.au for more information.

Bellingham Marine Receives Low Carbon Certification

Bellingham Marine, Australia’s largest marina manufacturer and international industry leader, is the world’s first marina manufacturer to embrace carbon reduction and become certified under the Low Carbon Marina Initiative. The Initiative is administered by the Carbon Reduction Institute and the Marina Industries Association of Australia.

Bellingham Marine, proudly Australia’s largest marina manufacturer, can now also claim to be the world’s first marine manufacturer to take action on climate change and become LowCO2 certified. This comes as a result of the recent launch of the Low Carbon Marina Initiative, designed to provide the marina industry with an action plan against global warming. The Initiative is a joint venture between Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI) and the Marina Industries Association of Australia.

Bellingham Marine had its climate change impact assessed by CRI and implemented measures to reduce its carbon emissions. The marina manufacturer also offsets emissions with certified carbon credits.

As international industry leader and builder of the current Marina of the Year in Australia (Soldiers Point Marina, which incidentally is NoCO2 Certified) and in Asia (Keppel Bay Marina Singapore), Bellingham Marina issues a strong environmental message with its move towards low carbon practices.

“Something is happening to our climate and it is time that we wake up and realise that we, as humans, may be the cause”, Bellingham Marine General Manager John Spragg said. “At Bellingham, we firmly believe that we have to leave the planet in a better shape than we received it when we were born.”

He continues: “I have never been to an ugly place where a marina has been built, they are generally built in stunning locations, and we need to make sure the planet is looked after so we can still see these facilities and use them in the future.”

Rob Cawthorne, Managing Director of the Carbon Reduction Institute, says Bellingham’s LowCO2 certification means that the Australian marina industry is now a global leader towards more environmentally sound practices and cleaner waters. “This is not just another business reducing its carbon footprint; it is the beginning of a whole new era where climate change action is taken to a higher level. The Australian marina industry will be recognised internationally for their leadership on such an important issue”, he said.

John Spragg commented: “We have always been environmentally conscious. That’s why we didn’t hesitate when we were given the chance to lead this important global movement which will determine our future. Most of our clients are still getting their heads around the low carbon concept, but those who have embraced it are extremely supportive. We are proud that we have become a low carbon business even before our head office in the US, who are still going through the assessment process.”

With over 50 years of industry experience, and having built more marinas than anyone else in the world, Bellingham Marine believe that leading the Low Carbon Marina Initiative will help the environment on a large scale. “Carbon Reduction is a very beneficial initiative as it may help every person on the globe”, John remarked. “We all need to ensure our environment is improved for those who follow us, and we see the reduction of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere a project for each and every one of us. I sincerely hope our competitors in the marina manufacturing industry follow our lead”.

Bellingham Marina is now prominently featured on the CRI website www.noco2.com.au. Other marinas and industry associates are recognising the advantages of taking part in the Initiative and have signed up to have their carbon footprint calculated.

For more information about Bellingham Marine, please visit their website www.bellingham-marine.com.au.

Australia's Marinas Reduce Carbon Footprint

The Low Carbon Marina Initiative was launched yesterday at the Australian Marine Innovation Conference on the Gold Coast. Keynote speaker Senator The Hon Kim Carr, Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research said, 'Climate change is pressing to our marine industry. The Low Carbon Marina Initiative to be launched today is one example of how the marina industry is responding to this challenge.'

The initiative is part of the Marina Industries Association of Australia (MIAA) vision to be a leader in marina environmental programs. MIAA has set a goal of a 20% reduction in the operational carbon footprint of Australian marinas by 2015.

MIAA has partnered with the Carbon Reduction Institute to develop and manage the Low Carbon Marina Initiative. The initiative provides a simple certification system to enhance the sustainability of marinas and related businesses. It allows for participation at varying levels of carbon reduction. Participating businesses go through a three step process. Firstly there is an assessment of the carbon footprint; then development of strategies to reduce carbon emissions and finally the offsetting of unavoidable carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits.

The initiative provides marina and related operators with real cost savings and marketing benefits at a time of rapidly growing consumer awareness of the need to act on global warming.
As part of the development and lead up to the launch marinas, in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are already participating in the Carbon Marina Initiative. Bellingham Marine and Superior Jetties are also participating and MIAA expect over 40 businesses will be involved in the initiative within eight months.

About Low Carbon Marina Initiative
The Low Carbon Marina Initiative is a national, voluntary certification programme for marinas, yacht clubs, boat clubs, slipways and other associated industry operators across Australia.
Marinas participating in this programme reduce the impact their operations have on the environment while gaining the ability to promote their marina as one that is part of the solution for climate change. This helps attract new customers and prepares the marina industry for future legislations on climate change.
There are many more benefits involved in becoming a carbon neutral certified marina:

• Improves the marina’s public image and increases patronage


• Provides expert advice on the sustainability of renewable energy, energy efficiency and waste management onsite a marina


• Demonstrates leadership and commitment to EPA objectives


• Delivers cost savings and increases sustainability of the operations


• Decreases the impact on the environment and helps protect marine life


• As operator of a Low Carbon or Carbon Neutral Marina, the marina will benefit from using the Low Carbon Marina Initiative logos, flags and materials. This programme will be promoted across Australia.

Further details on the Low Carbon Marina Initiative can be found at www.noco2.com.au/marinas

This article was taken from Sail World.