b'BACK TO NAVIGATIONRENEWABLE ELECTRICITY AND CARBON OFFSETS Renewable energy in Australia is energy created from sources other than fossil fuels, including wind, hydro, solar and bio-energy.Electricity retailers in Australia allow consumers to purchase some, or all, of their electricity as renewable energy or as the certified productcalled Greenpower). Purchase of renewable energy prevents the production of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and reduces a firms overall carbon footprint. Australia has added on average more than 6 GW of renewable capacity each year since 2018 and this level of investment is expected to continue through to 2022, reshaping Australias electricity sector. During 2020, 7 GW of new renewable energy capacity was added to the national grid exceeding the original forecast of 6.3 GW. Overall, total renewable generation in the National Electricity Market has climbed to thirty percent at the end of 2021.Another means of reducing the impacts of carbon emissions from electricity and gas use, or business travel is by purchasing carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are produced by organisations and projects around the world that avoid or remove carbon emissions (such as renewables, revegetation, land management/agricultural practices , building efficiency, and biogas projects). These projects often deliver a wide range of collateral benefits, in addition to the capture of carbon, which support environmental biodiversity, as well as social and economic outcomes to the communities where the project is located. One carbon credit unit removes or prevents one tone of carbon dioxide equivalent. Australian companies purchased, sixteen million Australian carbon credit units or offsets in 2021.However, there are significant future challenges regarding standards for offsets and their quality and certainty of supply. Carbon offsets, combined with renewable energy are critical tools of an organisations carbon neutral strategy and as part of a journeytoward Net Zero. We are witnessing a rapid increase in climate targets and Net Zero commitments from countries and companies which is expected to continue beyond COP26. Demand for carbon credits has doubled over the past three to four years and is forecast to increase by a factor ranging from 20x to 100x by 2050. This has inevitable consequences for both availability, quality and price for carbon offsets. 2021 AusLSA Member PerformanceFollowing the trend from last year, almost one-quarter of AusLSA member firms reduced their net carbon emissions levels through the purchase of renewable electricity and or carbon offsets. eight of AusLSA member firms purchased carbon offsets, one purchased renewable energy and four purchased a combination of both. The below graph shows that ninety percent reductions of firms greenhouse gas nettable reductions were from the purchase of voluntary carbon offsets with ten percent from the purchase ofthan renewable energy. This is most likely because the costs of offsets are significantly lower per tonne of carbon abatement. Offsets also generally provide an additional social and environmental value realised from their production which aligns with firms other priorities.The ongoing effects of COVID lockdowns reduced the gross emissions of law firms by fifty-three percent in 2021 and sixty nine percent since COVID disruptions commenced. This is reduced the total offsets and renewables required by participating firms to be carbon neutral. RENEWABLES AND OFFSETS All firms C0 -e 250,000Offsets Renewables 3,7243,82040,000 572 632 40,564761 35,094 36,615 36,00130,000 30,115 Several of our member firms who have sought NCOS accreditation or seek to be carbon neutral often purchase a greater number of 20,000 carbon offsets than their gross total emissions detailed in this report. This is because, as part of NCOS accreditation, firms must include 10,000 carbon emissions from additional sources (such as hotel accommodation and travel to and from work) which are not included in 0 AusLSAs reporting.2017 2018 2019 2020 202167'