Johannesburg, 01 Mar 2010
The Itec Group has entered into an exclusive partnership with impactChoice to offer its clients solutions that will help them to neutralise the environmental impact of their printers, copiers and multifunctional devices in a simple, auditable and sustainable manner.
The relationship makes Itec the first office automation vendor in South Africa to offer its clients a carbon offset programme based on micro-certificates that are fully auditable. Every Itec dealer countrywide will now be able to help its clients to offset the carbon footprint of their office automation environments.
ImpactChoice is a UK-based provider of innovative turnkey environmental sustainability solutions. Itec - one of South Africa's largest office automation companies - entered into a group-wide relationship with impactChoice, following the success of a partnership impactChoice established with the Itec Central office late last year.
Through its relationship with impactChoice, Itec is able to offer clients guaranteed carbon offset credits backed up by micro-certificates. These micro-certificates are, in turn, linked to verifiable and audited, macro Voluntary Emission Reduction Certificates, Certified Emission Reduction Certificates, or Renewable Energy Certificates as traded on the global voluntary and formal carbon exchanges.
“Companies are coming under increasing pressure from regulators, customers, and shareholders to show that they are operating in a manner that minimises their impact on the environment,” says Ryan Miles, chief operating officer at Itec Distribution. “Through our relationship with impactChoice, we are able to offer our clients a convenient way of offsetting carbon emissions in their office automation environments.
“This solution can help companies to prove to their stakeholders that they are truly committed to sustainability and put them in a strong position for the inevitable introduction of carbon emission laws and regulations in South Africa in the years to come.”
Miles says measuring and offsetting the relatively small amount of carbon emissions produced by office automation equipment was prohibitively expensive and complex in the past. In addition, companies could not buy carbon offset credits in small enough quantities from the voluntary and formal carbon exchanges for it to be viable for them to offset office automation emissions.
The impactChoice micro-certificate solution addresses this challenge by allowing companies to buy a smaller amount of carbon offset credits. Companies can easily trace their offset credits back to the specific projects that they are being spent on. That means companies have objective and auditable data about their carbon emission offsets to offer shareholders and the public in triple bottom line reporting - and to regulators if and when laws governing carbon emissions are introduced in South Africa.
“We offer this project as a value-add for our clients, as well as a way to show our own commitment to environmental sustainability,” Miles says. “This is an issue that has far-reaching implications for everyone in the world, so we have a duty to help our clients use our solutions in the most environmentally friendly manner.”
The partnership between impactChoice and Itec reflects the micro offsets calculated from the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions generated per single sheet of paper. Apart from offering carbon offset credits, impactChoice also provides energy efficiency solutions that monitor, analyse and control energy consumption. Using these solutions, Itec clients will also be able to control and limit their energy consumption, says Angus Rowe, chairman at impactChoice.
“We are excited to be working closely with Itec as it works to put environmental sustainability on its clients' agendas,” he concludes. “By promoting environmental sustainability throughout its client base, Itec is taking a leading role in helping South African businesses to reduce their carbon emissions.”
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