We believe businesses should be a force for good
Delivering tailored solutions to benefit business health and growth, advising on industry-specific best practices and reducing costs is what Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA) does, but we believe in going further and being a business that is also a force for good.
It is irresponsible to ignore the fact that as a society we are using finite resources, resources that we can avoid consuming in our generation and preserve them for the next. Where we can do better, using less or by pursuing a more sustainable approach we should.
Offsetting our own footprint is one thing, but the opportunity to do more lies in what we can deliver to our clients. Often, we deliver sustainability alongside our savings.
This means that continuously helping our clients to invest in responsible avenues of spend will increase the value of their company as well as the entire ecosystem.
Companies that operate sustainably are more attractive service providers, employers and business partners. Sustainability strengthens customer loyalty, attracts new customers and, in our understanding, has had a positive impact on the business.
Partnering with ERA will help to make the world a better place.
Our Commitment
At ERA, we strongly believe that sustainable challenges bring about an unprecedented opportunity for people, communities, and businesses to thrive and that is why we have acknowledged and actioned the importance of becoming a carbon negative organisation.
The first step of our commitment began by partnering with Futureproofed to calculate our CO₂ emissions and carbon footprint. Futureproofed calculated our Carbon Footprint making use of the Bilan Carbon emission fact inventory and following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHC-P).
By taking these steps, we have been able to introduce an approach that aims to create long-term stakeholder value through the implementation of a business strategy that focuses on the ethical, social, environmental, cultural, and economic dimensions of doing business.
In other words, a more strategic focus on People, Planet, Partnership and Prosperity.
ERA's Carbon Road Map
In 2021, ERA began working on its sustainability strategy and objectives as well as the methods of measuring them. As part of this work, a road map that considers all different dimensions of sustainable development comprehensively was put together.
In the spirit of honesty and transparency that characterize our organisation, we have to state that we are limited in the actions we can take to reduce our impact based on our type of organisation. Climate neutrality is a complex concept. It means not emitting greenhouse gases as part of your activities. Or, if you do, you capture or compensate for these greenhouse gases in another way, for example by planting trees. Yet “climate neutrality” is a concept that is often claimed.
At a relatively low cost, companies can purchase certificates to fully offset their CO₂ emissions, so that they can then officially claim they are climate neutral. Today, that’s not our way of doing things. Our ongoing commitment goes beyond this. Our uniqueness allows us to help our clients in reducing their emissions.
As a result, our added social value is so much greater than if we were to simply buy certificates because we are avoiding more CO₂ than we emit.
Where applicable, ERA will begin to report the emissions avoided through the solutions provided within our projects.
These emissions cannot be subtracted from our own emissions, but they can be shown alongside our own efforts to allow us to help clients avoid emitting emissions in multiples much higher than our own carbon footprint.
With the CO₂ emissions that we will avoid thanks to our solutions, we want them exceed our absolute emissions. We therefore will avoid more CO₂ than we actually emit. According to some definitions, this does indeed mean that we will be climate negative.
