Carbon Offsetting

Social Responsibility applies to more than just private companies. Better known by the term Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR, its core concepts have been integrated into the latest ISO 14001 standard, its application has been broadened to include governmental agencies and other organisations that have a clear interest in showing how they work.

An organisation’s performance in relation to the society in which it operates and to its impact on the environment has become a critical part of measuring its overall performance and its ability to continue operating effectively. Pressure to do so comes from customers, consumers, governments, insurers, investors. associations and the public at large. At the same time, far-sighted organisational leaders recognise that lasting success must be built on credible business practices and the prevention of damaging activities such as fraudulent accounting and labour exploitation.

ISO 26000 standard adds value to existing initiatives for social responsibility by providing harmonized, globally relevant guidance based on international consensus providing voluntary guidance on Social Responsibility (SR) for organizations of all types in both public and private sectors. The perception and reality of an organisation’s performance on social responsibility can influence, among other things:

• Competitive advantage and reputation,
• Ability to attract and retain workers or members, customers, clients or users,
• Maintenance of employees’ morale, commitment and productivity,
• View of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the financial community,
• Relationship with companies, governments, the media, suppliers, peers, customers ,and the community in which it operates.

CSR can be an effective way of demonstrating an organisation’s proactive commitment to the public interest by, for example, encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere. ISO’s International Standard ISO 26000 or simply ISO SR, provides guidelines for Social Responsibility (SR), socially responsible behaviour and possible actions to achieve this.

We can provide advice and guidance on the process of developing an ISO 26000-based SR policy and implementing a CSR strategy for your organisation.

Carbon inventories

The climate emergency declared by the Irish government in 2019 and the associated biodiversity crisis are the single greatest challenges facing human civilization and nations, governments, business and citizens must all play their part if we are to succeed in this fight. Covid 19 has given us a very small taste of the disruption these twin crises will cause if we fail to address these. Climate change has huge implications for human and natural systems in terms of food and resource security, increased frequency of weather-related disasters, quality of life, species extinction and loss of land and major cities through sea-level rise.

International, regional, national and local initiatives are being developed and implemented to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere. Among responsible leaders this is leading to significant changes in business practices by means of mitigation measures ranging from effecting improvements such as efficiency measures and innovation, reorganisation of supply chains and purchasing of ‘green’ energy to direct investment in renewables. Increasingly as the climate warms, organisations will need to identify and implement suitable adaptation measures to withstand the unavoidable impacts of climate change. In reality these approaches are two sides of the same coin and we need to pursue both. However all such GHG initiatives rely on carbon footprinting or the quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of GHG emissions.

ISO 14064-1:2019 ‘Greenhouse gases – Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals’ details principles and requirements for designing, developing, managing and reporting organisation- or company-level GHG inventories. It includes requirements for determining GHG emission boundaries, quantifying an organisation’s GHG emissions and removals, and identifying specific company actions or activities aimed at improving GHG management. It also includes requirements and guidance on inventory quality management, reporting, internal auditing and the organisation’s responsibilities for verification activities.

Using ISO 14064-1, BioLogiQ will work with you to measure your organisation’s carbon footprint, report the findings and identify actions to manage and mitigate your GHG emissions and obligations responsibly. We will provide you with the necessary tools, skills and knowledge to measure and manage your carbon emissions on an ongoing basis, allowing you to report against regulatory and voluntary schemes, meet customer requirements and communicate your achievements externally.

Even if humanity were to stop all greenhouse gas emissions today the time lag between the time gases are released and their measurable impact on the climate means that our planet will still continue to warm by at least 1.5°C, the so-called unavoidable climate change which will demand adaptation by some organisations. We can produce a climate change adaptation report detailing your organisation’s potential exposure to climate change and corrective actions for adaptation that may be required.