We’re Going Climate Positive in 2021

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it will be carbon negative by 2030. This means they will remove all the greenhouse gases the company emitted, both directly as part of the operations, as well as the greenhouse gases emitted through their supply chains.

A very similar goal has been on our to do list for way a while now. Yet we often get caught up in client work, and forget to take care of our own company, and the world that it operates in.

The global pandemic hit the travel and tourism industry especially hard. Budgets were cut, and anything that didn’t result in short term survival slipped to the very bottom of the to do list.

However, as we reflect on the past year, we believe there is no better time than now to embrace the opportunities that come with this crisis we find ourselves in. Fighting the Climate Crisis has moved up to the very top priority of our to do list.

For us, that means finally dedicating our company to go carbon negative - or how we and many others prefer to call it: climate positive.

So here it is. Our official statement. “We pledge to be climate positive by the time Rupp Public Relations celebrates its five-year anniversary in March 2021.”

You’re probably reading this thinking, that sounds nice, but what does that even mean?

Well, it means that we are going to calculate all the greenhouse gases we have emitted since founding our company in March 2016. This includes both direct emissions created through operational activities and business travel, as well as indirect emissions created via the electricity we purchase, for example.

Then we are going to take those calculations and use certified options for carbon offsetting to not only carbon offset our emissions to the exact ton, but offset beyond what we have emitted. This ensures we are not just carbon neutral, but climate positive instead.

There are many ways to approach carbon offsetting – from planting trees, to investing in clean energy and new technologies, and literally extracting carbon from the air.

We’re still doing our research to decide which path we are going to take. In a few weeks’ time, we hope to be able to announce which combination we opted for and why.

We’re also aware that carbon offsetting is not the sole answer – it should only be used as a last resort to repair irreversible damage already caused. So, whilst we are carbon offsetting to make up for the past, we are also going to be looking into how to reduce and maybe even avoid greenhouse gas emissions moving forward.

Some ideas might include switching our electricity to renewable energy, sourcing office supplies from companies that have pledged to cut their emissions as well, and minimizing business travel, which this pandemic has shown us is very much possible.

Our aim is to present our path to climate positivity with you in the new year. We’ll openly be sharing our carbon footprint calculations, justifying our carbon offsetting choices and explaining why we ended up picking the carbon offsetting organizations that we did.

We want to make it easy for small companies – and our clients - to follow suit. And the easiest way to do that is by being transparent with each step we are taking to become climate positive.

 Our biggest impact on the world is through the work we do for our clients. By providing transparency and understanding, we aim to inspire and support our clients in tackling the climate crisis together. 

We’re looking forward to taking you on this journey in 2021!