Brighte is on a mission to make every home in Australia sustainable and is taking bold steps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its own operations. We caught up with Head of Corporate Affairs Nigel Freitas to learn about Brighte’s climate journey.
In this story
- Harnessing the power of the sun
- Going green, inside and out
- Taking control with robust carbon data
- Accelerating decarbonisation with the right support
- Uncovering and focusing on what matters
- Collaborating on carbon emissions as an ecosystem
- Request a consultation
Harnessing the power of the sun
For Australian households looking to make their homes more sustainable, upfront costs can be one of their biggest barriers.
That’s where Brighte comes in. Brighte provides affordable, accessible finance to homeowners so that they can unlock the benefits of clean energy.
“Since 2015 we’ve approved over $1.3 billion in finance, helping over 110,000 households to transition to solar products. And we’ve partnered with over 2,000 solar retailers and installers across the country.”
–Nigel Freitas, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brighte
“We fund good,” says Nigel. “We help households to take the first steps on their clean energy journey to reduce their emissions. And that's something that we're passionate about.”
Going green, inside and out
In addition to making Australian homes more sustainable, Brighte is also considering the impact of their own operations to strengthen credibility.
“As well as being green on the outside, we’re thinking about how to be green on the inside,” says Nigel. “For us, this involves considering the impact of our operations on people, our planet, and the communities in which we live.”
Nigel explains that when Brighte initially committed to becoming carbon neutral, the team envisaged that this would be the end of the process.
“However, we realised that becoming carbon neutral is only the first step of the journey, and that it is not a linear journey. There was a lot more to come, especially around reducing emissions.”
Taking control with robust carbon data
Brighte partnered with Pathzero to assist in measuring and reducing its carbon emissions and purchase offsets to compensate for its residual emissions.
Pathzero has supported Brighte to verify and validate its carbon data, which is vital to preventing greenwashing and executing ambitious emissions reduction plans.
“As an organisation partnering with Pathzero, you get the comfort that you’re not sharing numbers that can be questioned or challenged. You know that you’re sharing robust and rigorous numbers that have been checked.”
–Nigel Freitas, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brighte
“For us, having Pathzero test, analyse, and ensure that the results we share are correct gives us a lot of confidence,” says Nigel.
Brighte has now established a baseline and quantified its emissions profile. This information has sparked new conversations, strategy, and planning at Brighte around the development of a structured emissions reduction program.
Accelerating decarbonisation with the right support
Brighte wanted to partner with a company that could advise and guide its decarbonisation efforts in the right direction. As a future-focused, digital-born business, it was also important that technology would play a leading role in powering Brighte’s climate journey.
“With Pathzero, we always have a person to guide us,” says Nigel.
“When you first enter this space, as someone who is new to sustainability, it can be very daunting and confusing. There are so many terms, schemes, and standards out there. But Pathzero provides us with strong advice and guidance every step of the way.”
–Nigel Freitas, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brighte
The Pathzero platform gives Brighte a central repository of all the information the organisation has collected.
“People across the organisation can access that information whenever they need to, and the platform encourages transparency and collaboration” says Nigel. “In addition, being able to phone a friend at Pathzero for advice when needed is a real benefit.”
With changing needs throughout the journey, Brighte always has access to Pathzero’s expertise.
“We might feel comfortable for weeks on end, but then we suddenly have four or five key questions. And at that moment we can phone a friend at Pathzero and organise that consultation.”
Uncovering and focusing on what matters
Partnering with Pathzero has freed up Brighte to focus on what matters – accelerating decarbonisation.
“It’s been interesting to really see the numbers in the Pathzero platform and understand what our sources of emissions are,” says Nigel.
Brighte is acting with a short-term and long-term view, or a tactical and strategic view. So far, quick wins have included:
- switching to a carbon neutral energy plan
- improving end-of-journey office facilities to encourage cycling
- providing seasonal produce in the office
- switching to a more sustainable merchandise system
- engaging staff through an internal green working group.
These quick wins have helped to reduce Brighte’s Scope 1 emissions – those generated directly from its business operations, and Scope 2 emissions – those generated from purchased energy.
Collaborating on carbon emissions as an ecosystem
Brighte is also taking steps to reduce its Scope 3 emissions – those generated through suppliers such as legal, marketing, and advertising services.
“When you start to investigate your Scope 3 emissions, which are outside your organisation, that leads to some really interesting conversations with your suppliers,” says Nigel.
“You can ask them, how far along are you in your climate journey? Have you considered providing carbon neutral services to us as well? Because that affects our emissions profile.”
“We’re starting to uncover and generate rich, deep conversations throughout the value chain with our suppliers around how we can reduce emissions as an ecosystem, rather than just one single organisation. This is where long-term benefits will start to be felt.”
–Nigel Freitas, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brighte
Brighte’s staff also expect the organisation to be a leader in this space and not just talk the talk, but really walk the walk.
“Although we’re helping to reduce Australia’s overall emissions profile through our core business, with Pathzero we can now think more creatively together about what emissions reduction means for Brighte.”
Request a consultation
Are you interested in measuring and managing the carbon emissions of your organisation or investment portfolio? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out today for a free consultation to discuss your climate goals and how we can best support you.
