Our Statement on the Environment
Climate change is a global emergency. People across the country and the world are already experiencing the deadly consequences of our climate crisis, as extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes upend entire communities, ecosystems, economies, and ways of life, as well as endanger millions of lives. Communities of color, working class people, and the global poor have borne and will bear this burden disproportionately.
Sitara Systems recognizes our responsibility to help protect the planet. We acknowledge that climate change is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the over-consumption of resources, the overproduction of manufactured goods, and the unsustainable growth of human activity. We recognize that the only solution is a world where fossil fuel stays in the ground, and where we limit ourselves to only what can be produced sustainably using renewable energy sources.
We are committed to minimizing the impact our company has on the environment and supporting those who are working to improve global environmental sustainability. This living document serves as a record of our values, commitment, and progress in doing our part. We commit to reviewing this document annually, evaluating our progress towards our goals, and updating this document with our latest developments.
Our Values
Our obligations to protect our planet are not equal. Institutions and individuals with more resources available to them have an outsized obligation to take meaningful action.
We commit to initiate a dialogue about environmental and social impact and sustainable alternatives with each and every client.
Reducing carbon emissions is more effective than offsetting them. We are skeptical of schemes to whitewash emissions without making meaningful changes to our actions.
We commit to utilizing an internal carbon tax, and use those funds to invest in our own decarbonization to reduce actual carbon emissions each year.
It is essential to reduce consumption. The majority of global greenhouse gas emissions are produced indirectly through the production of goods. In order to sustain meaningful changes, we will strive to reduce consumption, repair or re-use when possible, and recycle only as a last resort.
We commit to reducing consumption of new goods, repairing or re-using items when possible, and recycling only as a last resort.
Everything we spend money on is an investment into one type of future or another. One of the best ways to amplify our reach is to carefully consider what we do with our money and who we choose to work with.
We commit to evaluating the carbon footprint of vendors, associates, and businesses, and to reviewing our business relationships based on this information.
We can’t improve what we don’t measure. In order to make meaningful improvements to our carbon footprint, we must start by measuring and understanding the causes of it.
We commit to orienting ourselves through research; investigating ways to reduce, re-use, recycle, and offset our own footprint; and to take practical steps to follow through on what we learn.
Ongoing Actions
This is a list of our ongoing actions; this list is reviewed and updated at the end of each calendar year.
New Actions
(12/2023) Our internal Carbon Tax was increased to $100 per ton of CO2.
(12/2023) For multiple years in a row, our Scope 3 Emissions have been dominated by Air Transportation. For the next year, we are tracking Air Transportation through actual emissions (instead of input-output approximations) to get a better handle on the exact emissions and how we can reduce them.
(12/2023) Our current remote workforce doesn’t allow us to easily track our overall carbon footprint; in the coming year we will review improved methods for tracking the footprint created by our remote workforce. (UPDATE) We’re modelling our current remote workforce as “Multimedia Production” to reflect their computer-heavy, infrastructure-light carbon footprint. While not perfect, we hope that this helps us account for the fact that our remote workforce still creates a footprint through their daily work.
Halted Actions
(10/2022) Improve carbon reporting for business ground travel using third-party services — encompassed under input-output model of Scope 3 emissions tracking
(10/2022) Improve our tracking of all shipping-based carbon emissions so that we can make informed improvements — encompassed under input-output model of Scope 3 emissions tracking
(12/2021) Between 2020 and 2021 we purchased carbon offsets for air travel that could not be avoided. However, we will no longer purchase carbon offsets as there is very little verifiability of even Gold Standard programs' results. Instead, we will implemented an internal carbon tax to allow us to invest in local decarbonization projects directly.
Continued Actions
(12/2022) Our internal carbon tax rate will increase annually by 10%, with a target of reaching $160 USD per metric ton of carbon emissions by 2030. This figure is in line with international commitments to decarbonize by mid-century and limit global temperature increases to 1.5° C (i.e. the Paris Climate Agreement).
(10/2022) Improve tracking of all of our Scope 3 emissions using an input-output model based on kg CO2 per dollar spent in various categories as recommended by Mike Berners-Lee in “The Carbon Footprint of Everything”
(06/2022) Our company’s invested assets are invested into funds managed by Engine No 1, where our shares will be used to hold companies accountable for their environmental, social and governance commitments.
(04/2022) Update our travel policy to include sustainable travel policies for new clients, including taking overall emissions into account when selecting flights.
(12/2021) If there are no obvious short-term sustainable projects that can be undertaken with our internal carbon tax, then these funds will be invested in microloans for sustainable projects globally through Kiva. This will allow our funding to perform work abroad while we save for future investments.
12/2021) Completed inaugural Scope 1, 2, and 3 Emissions Review for 2021 and created a template for measuring our carbon footprint in future years https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YXMjxvCvPTgJuarhnVXcua-TeG7F2msdk4SU7zFv1Yk/edit?usp=sharing
(09/2021) Opted into Nevada’s energy grid rebalancing program to conserve energy during peak demand days in the summer.
(02/2021) Installed a high-efficiency HVAC system for heating and cooling.
(02/2021) Switched all lighting to 100% LED lighting, which we expect to be over 60 times more efficient than alternatives over their lifetimes.
(2020) Attempt to combine travel for multiple clients into a single itinerary to reduce total round-trip mileage.
(2020) Reduce emissions from commuting by moving day-to-day work to home offices.
(2020) Make efforts to donate all used electronics, equipment, and furniture before recycling or disposing of them.
Research Topics
This is a list of topics that we are actively researching, and hope to incorporate into our ongoing actions in the upcoming year.
As a design and technology company that specializes in helping clients communicate their values and expertise, we are actively researching opportunities for us to work pro-bono or at deeply discounted rates with organizations that directly advocate for ethical custody of our planet and its resources.
(06/2023) The two largest contributors to our carbon footprint every year is equipment and air travel. There’s publically available, fine-grained information that we can use to make better decisions about our carbon footprint, but we’re currently not able to track it effectively. We are looking into a better system for tracking this data.