At Canva, we’re lucky to have constructed an incredible organisation on the premise of discovering enormous alternatives inside attention-grabbing issues. We strongly consider that in each problem there’s alternative, and there’s no larger problem dealing with the planet proper now than local weather change.
Local weather change is the one best menace to international stability, safety and life on earth. Its results are being felt world wide: international temperatures are rising at an alarming charge, unprecedented bushfires are ravaging our landscapes, and document flooding is placing peoples’ lives and houses at risk.
That’s the dangerous information: local weather change is already affecting the way in which we reside, and the actions of humanity have locked in at the very least 1.5°c of warming for the planet.
Right here’s the excellent news: we are able to nonetheless take motion that may cease local weather change, restrict warming to underneath 2°c, and stop us from disastrously affecting the long run.
If you have a look at one thing on the size of a whole planetary local weather system, making optimistic modifications to it could actually seem to be a Herculean effort. An effort that requires governments, industries, and organizations to all work collectively. What are you able to do – only one individual – to resolve such an enormous drawback?
However that’s what tackling local weather change wants. It wants people. People with voices, people who take motion, people who lead companies huge and small, and people who change the minds of governments one small step at a time.
There’s not going to be one sweeping invoice handed in Parliament or the closing of only one single energy station that’s going to resolve this drawback. It’ll be a mess of efforts that harness the small modifications of a giant group of individuals. It would take what the Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change (IPCC) is looking “transformational change” in each sector, in each area of the world, to maintain international warming underneath 1.5 levels Celsius. And organizations like Canva have an vital function to play in stepping as much as that problem, inspiring others to take motion, and supporting new methods of considering that want momentum to get off the bottom.
Our sustainability framework
As one of many world’s fastest-growing expertise firms, we’re used to setting formidable targets and determining what we have to do to attain them. We set ourselves the purpose of being Web Zero in 2023 and hit that focus on in 2021. However we have to do extra than simply Web Zero. We’re tackling our emissions utilizing a precedence framework constructed upon offsetting, lowering, and eradicating.
So as to correctly offset your emissions, it’s vital to gather the best information. Canva is transitioning from a mannequin the place consultants do bespoke evaluation yearly to calculate our emissions, right into a course of the place we’re routinely accumulating the best information to trace our emissions. This helps us not solely calculate what offsets we’d like but additionally helps us monitor our progress in lowering our emissions and saving on prices.
Upon getting that information, you’re in a position to then determine the areas the place your best emissions are coming from and work out methods to begin lowering them. This could contain higher administration of your waste streams, or doing small issues like altering your lighting and scheduling of your heating and air con techniques.
The waste administration arrange in Canva places of work
At Canva, we’re all about empowering folks to reside extra sustainably and our international #sustainability-club is without doubt one of the most engaged golf equipment now we have. They meet recurrently to debate methods to cut back emissions across the workplace, at dwelling, in addition to easy methods to have an effect on native communities. We’re additionally specializing in our print operations and understanding how we are able to scale back the gap and kind of supply, by means of to our packaging and the top of life of those merchandise.
For each print order positioned with Canva, we plant a tree – it’s a easy thought with a huge impact
Eradicating your utilization of emitting applied sciences is the place you may have the most important impression as a result of it strikes you nearer to the purpose the place none of your techniques and processes are emitting any carbon. Electrification is a key step right here that, when paired with 100% renewable power, permits us to take away complete segments of our carbon emissions whereas sustaining our productiveness.
We don’t plan to simply cease at decarbonisation although. We wish to go past Web Zero. It’s not sufficient simply to consider how a lot carbon you may cancel out. You should take into consideration regenerating the planet which we’ve put into disaster over the previous couple of many years. Because of this if you’re taking a look at initiatives which may take you to Web Zero, it is best to transcend the figures and take into consideration extra advantages to biodiversity, social impression and conventional custodians.
For instance, initiatives like our One Print, One Tree initiative, the place we’ve dedicated to planting a tree for each print order positioned with Canva. We’ve planted greater than 1 million bushes to this point and there shall be over 3.5 million bushes planted by means of accredited reforestation schemes by the top of this yr. Timber have been planted in 16 websites throughout 10 international locations and we’re actively exploring new websites in Nepal, Kenya and Peru.
A planting website within the Mendocino Nationwide Forest, California
In Brazil, we’ve partnered with Sinal do Vale, a centre for regeneration of ecosystems and communities, to forest 30 hectares of degraded pasture land in peri-urban Rio de Janeiro within the Atlantic Forest biome. The Atlantic Forest is taken into account one of many 35 hotspots on this planet resulting from its wealthy biodiversity, but it’s additionally one of the threatened biomes on this planet, with solely 12% of the unique forest left. The undertaking will end result within the planting of 45,000 bushes composed of over 40 totally different tree species. Within the space, we’re additionally restoring a hilltop native forest and remodeling the height into an ecotourism level for mountain biking, paragliding, and mountain climbing. We consider a regenerative revolution is required to reverse the impacts of local weather change and protect our planet for future generations.
A planting website in Sinal Do Vale, Brazil
In addition to the environmental advantages, our planting websites world wide at the moment make use of greater than 100 folks from native communities, creating new employment alternatives for individuals who beforehand had little or no earnings. It’s a testomony to our perception that doing good for the setting is nice for native communities, good for society and good for our planet.
Being a drive for good
To “be a drive for good” is without doubt one of the core values that we proudly espouse at Canva. It is a worth that resonates with so many Canvanauts as a result of it straight influences the selections that we make in each facet of the corporate, and consequently the true impression that Canva has on the world.
Canvanauts volunteering at Hebron Farm, considered one of our native meals suppliers
Supporting the broader group is an extremely vital a part of our mission to empower the world to design and to do essentially the most good we are able to. Greater than 200,000 nonprofits use Canva’s Nonprofit program to share and champion vital messages and causes throughout the globe together with the Clear Air Council, Timber for the Future, Groundswell and plenty of extra.
Driving the transformational change we’d like
This Earth Day, we see an actual alternative to drive change, and an opportunity for Australia – particular person Australians, Australian firms, and the Australian authorities – to set the targets that’ll drive the transformational change we’d like. My dream can be that we use the very privileged place that Australia’s economic system places us in to forge new alternatives for us on the world stage, serving to current firms to transition to a carbon-free future and provoking the following wave of enterprise leaders to develop and develop the industries that may energy a sustainable future for the planet.
As with every drawback value fixing, it inevitably requires all of us to vary and adapt as we determine it out. Taking these first few steps is all the time crucial on any journey. So why not take your first one this Earth Day?
