Edge Environment Pty Ltd

Edge Environment is a leading consulting firm specialized in supporting companies to measure, understand and manage the environmental and social impacts of their products, services and operations. Established in 2008, we have maintained our mission to catalyse positive environmental change with scientific integrity. Edge Environment employs approximately 20 people in Australia.

Jonas Bengtsson is the CEO of Edge Environment, and co-founder Tom Davies is the Chairman of the Board. The senior management team includes Jacqui Bonnitcha, Ken Lunty and Sarah Bray.

Edge Environment’s consultancy services and tools focus on sustainability advisory, ratings, product certifications, climate change adaptation, resource management, circular economy and industrial ecology.

Buildings and Infrastructure Services: Government and private clients are increasingly demanding higher standards in sustainable performance and management. Edge Environment can apply our expertise from strategy development to technical work and from design stages through to delivery. We pride ourselves on offering cost effective and practical solutions including sustainability bid strategy, sustainability business case development, implementation of sustainability tools, triple bottom line modelling, measurement and monitoring of sustainability.

Life Cycle Assessment Services: Life Cycle Assessment is the leading method for quantifying the environmental performance of products and services. It can be used to inform sustainable procurement, product development and innovation, green marketing and reporting, and sustainability strategy development.

Research, Policy and Tool Development -Our tailored research, policy and tool development services provide clients with the information, analysis, bespoke tools and policy recommendations to support more sustainable outcomes. Edge Environment has a unique combination of technical expertise, research capability and industry experience to ensure that we can tailor solutions to your needs. Our focus is on developing science based and cost effective tools, policy advice, strategies and training materials.

Strategy and Supply Chain Management – For most organisations, the majority of their environmental and social impacts sit within their supply chains. Our approach quickly and cost effectively identifies ‘hotspots’ for environmental impact and social risk. Edge Environment can then work with you to develop strategies, targets and implementation tools to address the hotspots.

Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change – Climate change and existing extreme weather risks impact all aspects and sectors of our society. Edge Environment’s focus is on developing science based and cost effective climate change adaptation tools, policy advice, strategic advice and training materials. Services include risk assessments, bespoke tools to measure resilience and climate change adaptation plans.

Industrial Ecology – Industrial Ecology mirrors the circular and systemic efficiencies observed in nature, where systems operate in continuous and perpetual loops. Edge Environment assists organisations to reduce waste and costs through the following services: site auditing and resource data-gathering, resource-mapping, innovation sourcing and international solution scanning, project feasibility analysis (economic and environmental), policy and sustainable strategy development.

Social Value Assessments – Social value methods measure the social impact of services, assets or products for affected stakeholders. Edge Environment provide strategic advisory, social return on investment (SROI) and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) services.

Edge Environment does not have a formal giving policy but chooses to donate to initiatives where there is a clear need. For example, last year Edge Environment chose not to hold a client event, instead donating the money to the Red Cross Syrian Crisis Fund.

Edge Environment staff volunteer their time for a number of non-profits and industry bodies. We recognise that this volunteering is an important aspect of carrying out our mission. Edge takes a flexible approach to volunteering which includes allowing staff to deliver this volunteer work within business hours.

Edge is a Partner of the UN Environment Programme’s Global Action for Sustainable Production and the Sustainable Public Procurement Programme.
We are also a Certified B Corporation®.

Edge are corporate members or have staff membership(s) in the:

• Green Building Council Australia, including participation in the Green Star Technical Advisory Group.
• Infrastructure Sustainability Council Australia, including participation in the Materials Working Group.
• Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society, and participation on the Board of Directors.
• Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.
• Australian Institute of Corporate Directors.
• Australasian Environmental Product Declarations Programme Technical Advisory Group.

We recognise the environmental, social and economic impact of our buying decisions. We use our in house sustainability expertise and our thorough understanding of materiality to focus our supply chain efforts on the purchases and suppliers who present the greatest sustainability risk or opportunity. Our practices have been independently verified and recognised as part of our B Corp certification.

As with other sustainability issues, Edge has a materiality driven approach to managing our environmental impact. This ensures we spend the majority of our time managing our largest impact areas. The largest environmental impacts associated with our business our electricity required for our office operations and travel to visit staff. Edge purchases 100% renewable energy to power our offices. Most of our staff travel is within Sydney and our staff are provided with public transport cards and encouraged to use public transport whenever possible.

Edge aims to minimise resource use through a number of different avenues: – Our office is furnished with second hand furniture wherever possible. We enable staff with laptops and mobile devices that reduce the need for printing.

Our office minimises waste to landfill by diverting all waste in to five separate waste streams:

• Organics (processed in our onsite worm farm)
• Soft plastics
• General recycling (glass, aluminium, etc.)
• Paper recycling
• General waste