Leading independent not-for-profit employment and education provider MTC Australia is engaging staff and the community on its journey to become carbon neutral.
Based in NSW and QLD, MTC Australia is a social enterprise that enables people to overcome barriers on their path to meaningful work. We do this through the employment, mentoring, and training programs we deliver. Each year, we support almost 19,000 people who are vulnerable and experiencing disadvantage with new skills, confidence, and opportunities.
“We are excited to be taking steps to understand MTC Australia’s carbon footprint as we begin our journey to becoming carbon neutral. Our team is engaged and ready to use this baseline measurement to create innovative initiatives to reduce our emissions. Reducing MTC Australia’s carbon footprint is an investment into the futures of all of us and one we are proud to be making,” MTC Australia CEO Rob Marshall said.
Earlier this year, MTC Australia sought the help of climate-tech platform Trace to measure and map carbon emissions across its operations. Business usage data was collected from across the organization such as energy, water, and business travel. At the same time, MTC’s employees took part in the Trace Employee Engagement Tool, a carbon footprint quiz that captured key data while also helping team members better understand their sustainability behaviours at home.
“The Employee Engagement Tool was vital to involving our people in this initiative, but it was also important because approximately 40% of MTC employees works from home at least one day a week. This means a proportion of our organisation’s emissions are created away from our employment and education sites and offices,” MTC Australia General Manager Risk & Quality Joseph Yap said.
Trace collated the data from the employee quiz with the data collected from across MTC Australia’s operations to calculate the organisation’s carbon footprint for the 12 months to July 2023.
MTC’s Carbon Footprint has been measured at the lower end of the services industry benchmark. The results showed MTC’s FY2023 Co2 emissions totalled 1,374.5t. The services industry benchmark band is 3-10Co2/FTE and MTC’s result is 4.14 per FTE.
Following this inaugural Carbon Footprint measurement activity, Trace has now issued MTC Australia a “Carbon Measured” badge.
“MTC Australia’s Board has been fully supportive through the development of our sustainability approach. In conjunction with our ELT, our Board will provide governance oversight of the carbon reduction strategies and targets designed and initiated by the MTC team,” Mr Yap said.
“Our next step is to consult and collaborate on strategies to reduce MTC Australia’s carbon emissions. Our employees are excited and motivated to create tangible actions and make a contribution towards a low carbon future,” Mr Yap said.
