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In early 2010 Barrows, retail marketing specialist with its head office in Durban, South Africa commissioned Global Carbon Exchange (GCX) to conduct a carbon footprint assessment of their business. The concept of sustainability is nothing new at Barrows; it’s something the company has been passionate about for nearly a decade and significant strides have been made during this time to ensure the company consistently enhanced their environmental strategy.

Areas where Barrows has made great strides in earning their green credentials include recycling up to 80% of their waste, only purchasing paper that contains 60% locally sourced sugar cane fiber, not using lead in epoxy powders used for displays, only buying recyclable plastics and ensuring that their waste water...

The moment so many of our past students have been waiting for - GCX is now introducing Carbon Footprint Analyst Level 2.
If you have already completed the Level 1 certification, and have conducted a business carbon footprint, or are a consultant that has embarked on this journey alone and now needs further guidance, CFA 2 is your next step.
The first course will be held on the 29th November 2010 in Cape Town over 3 days. On completion, learners will have the skills and knowledge to conduct specialised carbon footprints and be able to analyse a large multinational organisations’ carbon footprint.

With big business fast recognising the benefits of addressing and enhancing their triple bottom line performance, many small businesses struggle to understand the business case going down the sustainability road. This is based on the misguided belief by small business owners that their carbon footprint is insignificant and therefore any action taken to mitigate this impact would be seemingly meaningless in the greater scheme of things and would go unnoticed.
Besides the fact that the aggregate impact of the total number of SME’s  in South Africa is actually a massive contributor to the country’s total carbon footprint, a massive opportunity does exist for these companies to unlock their eco-advantage by weaving sustainability into the fabric of their business.

A wise person said that “every ocean begins with a drop of water”, which is another way of saying that even small steps are progress if taken in the right direction, according to Ed Gluckman MD at GCX.
“A shining example of this truth is the journey that many companies embark on to gain their ‘eco-advantage’, which I define as a company’s opportunity for growth and profitability through a focus on environmental sustainability,” he adds.  

“We have a footprint!!!!” boasts GCX after concluding their baseline footprint with an incredibly low total of 56.2 tonnes CO2e for 2009. Since conducting a carbon footprint for their first ever South African client, St Elmo’s in 2008 GCX had been in a position of ‘the cobblers child never has shoes’ but can now act as inspiration to their clients and the market place alike. CEO, Kevin James, comments that, "GCX is proud of the fact that we have been able to keep the impact of our commercial activities on the environment down to a minimum as it is critical to be able to lead by example when addressing the impact of our clients businesses on the environment".

GCX’s new Residential Eco-Auditor course will be launched in September this year and is the first of its kind in the country. Once completed, learners will have the skills to convert any home into an efficient, low impact, cost effective household and will be able to identify solutions across all areas of sustainability.

The course is filled with practical exercises and examples and the topics are as follows: Energy – Heating and cooling, Lighting, Appliances, Hot water systems, Pools and spa’s; Water; Waste Management; Domestic Contaminants; the Eco-audit and an introduction into renewable energy.