HOBAS Australia Supplies Carbon-Neutral Pipes

Despite not being subject to the newcarbon tax the government introduced for large CO2 emitters in July 2012, HOBASthereby addresses its climate change action and the company’s declared aim,which has already become a widely acknowledged success: offering carbon-neutral HOBAS Pipes as a certified “Low Carbon”-Company.

 “We assessed the carbon footprint of HOBAS Pipes bymeans of a Greenhouse Gas emissions analysis, which was verified by theAustralian Carbon Reduction Institute. Through the Institute’s NoCO2Certification program we are measuring, reducing and offsetting our climatechange impacts through a variety of carbon offset programs”, says Andrew Holmanfrom HOBAS Australia.

 The carbon footprint study was conducted by theprinciples included in PAS 2050:2011 – a publicly available specificationoriginally published in 2008 as the world’s first framework methodology forproduct carbon footprinting, which is built upon ISO 14040/44 standards andprovides a method for assessing the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions ofgoods and services. The respective project offsetting calculations areperformed according to international standards, e.g. the CDM Gold Standard.

By supporting different offset programs, HOBASAustralia makes up for the emissions created in pipe production, packaging and transportby helping to reduce emissions in another place, eventually sellingcarbon-neutral pipes on a project-to-project basis. At this point, HOBASAustralia is the only pipe supplier on the Australian market to provide thisservice. Currently, HOBAS supports two projects: The building of anenvironmentally friendly biomass plant in the Indian state Chhattisgarh, aswell as a program for reducing deforestation and improving living standards inCambodia.

“We are therefore not only reducing carbon emissionsbut are also supporting communities in developing countries. Being involved inboth community-based and environmentally based initiatives, we are successfullyattracting the interest of government bodies and private organizations”, saysHolman.

To Australian water authorities, HOBAS offers aspecial “treat”: Whenever they purchase pipes from HOBAS, the company is notonly offering carbon-neutral pipes but is additionally giving 1 % of theearnings to Water Aid – an international non-profit-making organization whichworks to improve the water supply and discharge of sanitary waste in developingcountries.