Sustainability
“If I can not do great things, I can do small things in a great way”
It’s important to us here at The Datastack that our business is about more than just delivering awesome results for our clients. We are a socially responsible small kiwi business, and we are trying to build a legacy of making a difference.
We live in an amazing little part of the world, here in beautiful Aotearoa - New Zealand. So we want to do our bit to make The Datastack a sustainable business operation.
To achieve this, our sustainable business approach is built on three key foundations;
being climate friendly
giving back to the community
helping the industry with free sector resources
Being a sustainable business is something that we think really does matter. And we hope that it makes our clients feel good too, knowing that when they work with us they are supporting a socially responsible small kiwi business.
And although we don’t have those big corporate dollars to be splashing around to fund all this sort of stuff at some grand scale, even at our far smaller size, we still hope that we can make a meaningful difference.
The things we are doing to build a legacy of making a difference.
Being a Climate Friendly business
The mission for this sustainability pillar is all about our natural environment in the beautiful Aotearoa - New Zealand.
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing our planet today, and it can be a daunting prospect for us here now and for future generations to come. At The Datastack, we recognise the urgency of this issue and are proud to do our little bit by being a certified Carbon Friendly Business.
Our commitment doesn't stop with just simply mitigating our carbon footprint; we have also made a 120% carbon offset pledge - to try and go above and beyond in making a difference. Additionally, we are corporate members of the QEII National Trust, which helps protect the biodiversity and heritage of Aotearoa - New Zealand.
Giving Back to the Community
The mission for this sustainability pillar is all about giving back to the community.
At The Datastack, we are committed to giving back to the community and supporting those who are less fortunate whenever possible. We strive to make a positive impact by partnering with outstanding organizations that are dedicated to extending a helping hand to those in need.
Our Giving Back foundation serves as one of the cornerstones of our socially responsible business and is a key component of our sustainability efforts. Through this initiative, when we are in a position to do so, we provide financial support to charitable organisations and those trying to do good things across the motu.
Free Industry Resources
The mission for this sustainability pillar is to foster the building of skills and knowledge across the industry, by sharing information, ideas, and resources.
Our blog, TalkData, serves as a valuable platform for achieving this goal. It boasts a vast collection of articles brimming with tips, tricks, and walkthroughs to help individuals in the industry effectively navigate the realm of data, RAMM, and asset information management.
In addition, we are proud to offer free resources to the sector, including our SQL Basics for RAMM digital boot camp. This course is designed to kickstart your SQL skills in RAMM and is available to everyone at no cost.
See some of the ways we are making this all happen below…
Certified Carbon Friendly Business [2022]
We are proud to continue to be a certified Carbon Friendly Business with Ekos. For our 2022 reporting period, we have offset more than 120% of our estimated business operation emissions with certified carbon credits.
Why 120%? The Datastack has a 120% carbon offset commitment. This means we have offset more than our estimated business operation emissions for the year. We commit to continuing this every time we renew our Carbon Friendly certification.
Ekos develops and supports carbon projects that grow and protect forests in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Ekos connects carbon offset buyers with these projects by measuring business and individual carbon footprints, supplying certified forest carbon offsets, and providing carbon certifications (Zero Carbon, Climate Positive, Carbon Footprint and Carbon Friendly Certifications). Ekos forest carbon projects deliver climate resilience, waterways protection, erosion control, biodiversity protection and community economic development.
100 Trees Planted in Aotearoa - New Zealand
One hundred trees have been purchased by The Datastack for planting in NZ, together with the team over at One Tree Planted, to help achieve amazing outcomes like restoring wildlife habitats and indigenous forests.
To explain the fantastic work One Tree Planted is doing, the quote below has been borrowed directly from their website;
“In New Zealand we’re hard at work restoring the country’s beautiful native forests. Efforts are focused on mobilizing support from a coalition of local partners to plant thousands of trees in the Pamoa Forest in the Gisborne District of the North Island. Your support will help get trees in the ground and jump start a brand new forest ecosystem. By planting trees in New Zealand you're helping restore indigenous tree species to previously logged or degraded lands, enhance habitat for native biodiversity and protect local watersheds vital for the water quality of local communities and towns.”
Certified Carbon Friendly Business [2021]
We are proud to be a certified Carbon Friendly Business with Ekos. For our 2021 reporting period, we have offset 120% of our estimated business operation emissions with certified carbon credits.
Why 120%? The Datastack has launched our 120% carbon offset commitment. This means we have offset more than our estimated business operation emissions for the year. We commit to continuing to do this every time we renew our Carbon Friendly certification.
Ekos develops and supports carbon projects that grow and protect forests in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Ekos connects carbon offset buyers with these projects by measuring business and individual carbon footprints, supplying certified forest carbon offsets, and providing carbon certifications (Zero Carbon, Climate Positive, Carbon Footprint and Carbon Friendly Certifications). Ekos forest carbon projects deliver climate resilience, waterways protection, erosion control, biodiversity protection and community economic development.
10x Christmas bundles donated with The Foodbank Project
It would be fair to say that 2020 has been a challenging year for most. The Salvation Army is expecting 18,000 people will be needing assistance this Christmas.
The Foodbank Project has a number of different Christmas bundle configurations available to donate. To help share some Christmas love with 10 other families out there, we have donated 10 small Christmas bundles.
Please check out their website at https://www.foodbank.org.nz if you would like to find out more or make a donation too.
Corporate membership with the QEII National Trust
We are a corporate member of the QEII National Trust.
Below is an excerpt from their website to explain just what they are all about….
Our mission is to inspire private landowners to protect and enhance open spaces of ecological and cultural significance. Almost 70% of New Zealand is in private land ownership, so protecting biodiversity and heritage on private land is critical to reversing the decline of indigenous biodiversity and preserving our history.
We are an independent charitable trust that partners with private landowners to protect sites on their land with covenants. A covenant is an agreement between us and a landowner to protect land forever. The landowner continues to own and manage the protected land, and the covenant and protection stays on the land, even when the property is sold to a new owner.
Our partnerships have created a growing network of over 4,600 protected areas throughout Aotearoa, ranging from small backyard patches to huge swathes of high country. These covenants protect more than 180,000 ha of private land, and play a hugely critical role as a refuge for some of New Zealand’s rarest and most endangered biodiversity and ecosystems.
Please check out their website at https://qeiinationaltrust.org.nz if you would like to find out more about the great work they are doing.
1,000 cans of food donated with The Foodbank Project
The Foodbank Project is an awesome partnership between The Salvation Army, Countdown and Lucid. It is a “not-for-profit, self-sustaining online shop” where you can donate groceries to Kiwis in need.
After ordering products online, Countdown will deliver those items to the nearest Salvation Army food hub, so they can be packed into food parcels for those that need it.
Through our Community Programme we donated 1,000 cans of food to The Foodbank Project.
Please check out foodbank.org.nz if you would like to also support this cause.