Specsavers Australia and New Zealand is a little over one year into its sustainability journey, committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest and to a 2030 interim goal to reduce its carbon emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 by 50% and Scope 3 by 25%.
“This is not about offsetting, which tends to be associated with being carbon neutral. We don't buy offsets; this journey is about absolute reduction,” said Cathy Rennie Matos, Specsavers ANZ’s head of sustainability.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 targets have since been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative, she said, explaining that Scopes 1 and 2 deal with emissions generated directly by an organisation – for example, through transport and energy consumption – while Scope 3 includes upstream and downstream indirect emissions in an organisation’s value chain not already covered by Scopes 1 and 2.
“Absolute reduction, in terms of Scopes 1 and 2, is essentially that you are buying renewable electricity. But, given that over 90% of our emissions sit in Scope 3, there's a lot that has to happen in that supplier space to reach our targets. Six years isn't a long time; it’s going to be a challenge, but it’s a challenge we are prepared for,” Matos said.
During the past 12 months, efforts have been focused on setting up the internal structure and forming partnerships with other organisations to support the change. One of those partners is specialist carbon reporting software platform Emitwise, whose software will allow Specsavers to measure its carbon footprint and track progress against targets, she said. “We’re already starting to roll out this tool to our suppliers, at no cost to them. It’ll give them the information they need about their own businesses to make sustainable decisions and it will be a significant tool in delivering our collective ambitions.”
