Luxury menswear brand M.J. Bale has become the first Australian fashion brand to be Federal Government-certified carbon neutral for both business operations and product practices.
The brand has been accredited as Climate Active by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources.
The certification comes after a two-year life cycle analysis to measure and offset the entire business emissions in green projects including the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor in southwestern Australia and offshore wind projects.
M.J. Bale founder and CEO Matt Jensen said the business will work to share its knowledge with other brands who are working towards similar goals.
"We urge all Australian fashion retailers to join our lead in gaining a minimum of net zero certification.
"As an industry, we need to collectively work together to limit climate change.
"We plan to be carbon positive next year and are open to sharing our learnings from the sustainability journey with other like-minded industry partners.
"We are taking significant steps to cut emissions from the production of our woollen products, and have been pioneering the world’s first carbon neutral wool farm trials in Tasmania to reduce livestock methane emissions to undetectable levels," he said.
Meanwhile, by the end of this year more than 50% of the M.J. Bale's 67 stores across Australia will be powered by renewable energy, with the business aiming to have 100% on renewables by the end of 2022.
M.J. Bale is now a member of the Climate Active Network and has issued a rallying cry to the fashion and retail industries to become 'Net Zero Now', urging them to move quickly to cut carbon emissions.
"While we’ve achieved carbon neutrality, we feel that this is the start of the journey," Jensen added.
"There is so much more to do," he said.
Fellow Australian brand, Bassike, is certified carbon neutral for its business operations.