By Mark Brownfield, Chief Customer Officer, EnergyAustralia

A painless green transition

Our programme is popular because it addresses people’s desire to do their bit for the environment.

People are thinking more about climate change, and they want to help. They love the fact that by choosing Go Neutral, they can cancel out emissions from their home energy use. We make it easy for them to make an impact, and at no cost to them.

When a customer chooses to Go Neutral, EnergyAustralia calculates the emissions associated with their household energy use. It then purchases enough carbon offsets to cancel out the emissions, making their home energy use carbon neutral.

Real projects, real impact

We offset emissions through carbon offset units from both Australian and international climate action projects that not only offset our customers’ emissions but also bring about positive economic and social benefits.

For example, there are projects in Arnhem Land and the Cape York Peninsula working to prevent large bushfires that generate emissions. Another project stops greenhouse gases through landfill waste management in Brazil. Often the projects are good not only for the environment but for communities as well.

It’s all done the right way. We only buy offset units that the Australian Government’s Climate Active programme says are eligible. It is one of the most rigorous and credible carbon neutral certification programmes in Australia.

What’s more, we produce public disclosure statements which explain in detail what offsets we are purchasing and our carbon neutral calculations.

Businesses buy in

Now, more than ever, people expect the businesses they engage with to play their part in creating a more sustainable future.

As well as helping residential customers with Go Neutral, EnergyAustralia launched Business Carbon Neutral in June last year to help its business customers get in on the act and offset their electricity emissions. They also get a guaranteed discount on total energy bills for 12 months.  

Broader, bluer horizons

As well as helping customers offset their emissions and manage their own consumption, EnergyAustralia is also taking a leading role throughout its operations in planning for the transition to a net zero economy.

We recently updated our Climate Change Statement with a commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We also pledged a 60% cut in direct carbon dioxide emissions by 2028-29, compared with 2019-20 levels, and transition from all coal assets by 2040.

This is not the end of the story. We will continue to push this transition forward with our people and our communities respectfully and responsibly, and offer cleaner, reliable, affordable energy to our customers.