Student Exchange Australia New Zealand Ltd is officially
certified as a Low CO2 organisation.
This
means that we undergo regular carbon audits by the Carbon
Reduction Institute in order to understand how much CO2 emission
we are producing. This allows us to investigate opportunities to
cut down on these emissions through more efficient energy practices
and staff education. We also purchase carbon credits to help offset
our emissions based on the results of the audits.
Flights are the only component of the program
which are not offset. We are happy to offer you the opportunity
to offset the greenhouse emissions of your flights in order to
make your student exchange experience 100% carbon neutral. To visit
the Carbon Offset Calculator simply click on the image to the right.
What We are Committed to
Doing
we are committed to reducing our carbon
footprint to help contribute to a more sustainable
future. We do this by:
Using recycled materials for any hard copy materials
we use (eg posters, flyers, application forms etc) within reasonable
cost boundaries.
Offsetting our staff travel costs when travelling
on business
Offsetting all emissions from our business activities
and operations
Conserving resources through the careful management
of water, energy, and paper consumption in our office.
Ensuring that employees incorporate environmentally
friendly initiatives wherever possible in their daily business
activities, and encouraging them to continue to do so in their
personal lives
Encouraging students to carbon offset their international
flights.
Encouraging inbound and outbound exchange students
to apply environmentally friendly behaviour wherever possible.
We run a t-shirt design competition
called Make
Your Mark three times a year. In early 2009 the competition
used the theme "Cool the Planet!". The Top 3 designs
each won scholarships worth up to $3500 and all the
Top 10 designs received gift certificates from Dick Smith Electronics
valued at $100 each.
For a range of other ideas which you could try and implement
in your household visit the Carbon Reduction Institute’s
page for individuals
and families.
Climate change is one of the greatest economic, social, and
environmental challenges of our time. Expert scientific evidence
confirms that human activity is altering the climate. This is
changing rainfall patterns, reducing water availability in Australia
and increasing the frequency of severe weather events such as
bushfires and storms. 1
Globally, 11 of the last 12 years have been among the 12
warmest in the history of global surface temperature records.
In Australia, the average maximum temperature rose 0.8ºC
from 1910 to 2004, with most of this rise occurring since 1950.
The UN's Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes most of this temperature
rise to human activities that release carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. 2
Temperature increases in New Zealand have followed a similar
pattern to Australia. Average temperatures in New
Zealand are projected to increase about 1°C by around 2040
and about 2.1°C by
around 2090. 3
Why
Should We Act on Climate Change?
For too long we have poured greenhouse pollution into the
atmosphere and we are continuing to do so at an alarming rate.
Science tells us that this pollution is causing climate change.
We are already starting to feel the effects of this pollution.
And projections show that if we don't act, it will only get worse
with changing temperatures and rainfall patterns, more droughts,
floods, water shortages, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
Australia - already the driest inhabited continent on Earth
- is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The longer we
wait to act on climate change, the more it will cost and the worse
its effects will be. 4
Australians are the highest per-capita greenhouse gas polluters
in the developed world. This is due to the fact that we generate
electricity largely by burning high-emission coal and we use energy
inefficiently.
Australia's total emissions are similar in magnitude to
those of the United Kingdom and France, yet those countries have
much larger populations. 5
In New Zealand likely climate change impacts include:
higher
temperatures, more in the North Island than the
South, (but still likely to be less than the global average)
rising sea
levels
more frequent extreme weather events such as droughts
(especially in the east of New Zealand) and floods
a change
in rainfall patterns - higher rainfall in the west
and less in the east.6
So, everyone should do what they can to help support
an ecologically sustainable future and minimise the impacts of global
warming.
Links for More Information on Climate Change:
If you'd like to read through some more information on Climate
Change and Global Warming you may find the following sites to be
a good start.
