Dame Flora Duffy reflects on her partnership with Apex Group Limited.
Dame Duffy posted on social media, “My partner Apex Group Limited supported me through a Carbon Footprint Assessment based on my 2022 calendar year. It has been an enlightening journey! I’m sure it was entertaining for them, given they usually support multinational corporations with such assessments and not endurance athletes.
The first step, gathering all the data. This includes all my travel, and accommodation, listing every shoe, goggles, every bike, etc. All utilities at home, mileage driven, and then some.
Despite having solar on our roof both in Boulder and in Stellenbosch, driving a fully electric car in Boulder, my impact is 10x that of a regular person in a developed society. This was mostly due to two big buckets:
1. Travel – air travel particularly. And 2022 was an unusual year. Yokohama, Leeds, Montreal, Hamburg, Birmingham, Slovakia, Dallas, St George, Bermuda, Girona, Abu Dhabi, London, Bermuda, and South Africa – mostly going back to regroup in Boulder between events!
2. Supply Chain – this was almost equal to the travel. I have a lot of stuff! I get multiple bikes, wetsuits, a lot of shoes, and other training gear new each year, so my level of consumerism is very high. However each season, I either donate, sell, or give to friends when I am finished with the gear so at least the life cycle of the product lives on and it is not just discarded.
APEX then advised on trying to offset some of my impact. And after consultation, I supported a project via Ecologi while I am sure imperfect, it does feel better knowing I’ve tried to make a proportionate impact.
Thanks very much to Apex Group Limited for supporting me through this project. Determined to do better!
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