Founded in 1994, Mud Australia offers elegant and timeless minimalist porcelain homewares. Committed to global values of craft and community, these handmade pieces elevate the everyday meal, compliment the finest of cuisines and demonstrate how sustainability can be built into a company's product design and overall operations.
Mud Australia is currently sourcing 30% of their energy needs from solar panels installed on their studio roof in Sydney and has committed to using 100% renewable electricity by 2024. Furthering their renewables journey, Mud Australia is currently using electric vehicles and is advancing this initiative to have an entirely electric fleet by 2025.
Minimising their waste production, Mud Australia collects all trimmings, spills and broken greenware to be recast into new products and offers both a 100% recycled porcelain collection and a zero waste Terrazzo Trivet collection, further reducing material wastage. Pieces are also packaged with 100% biodegradable and compostable paper. Additionally, to reduce their water usage, Mud Australia collects rainwater with internal rain tanks to be used within their studios.
Mud Australia has achieved climate neutrality through South Pole and has held this label since 2020.
"Our team and our customers are extremely focussed on the climate and environment. I know it sounds a little high-minded but at this stage there are no excuses and we are all obligated to do everything we can to reduce our impact and take responsibility for our waste and carbon use."
— Shelley Simpson Founder and Creative Director, Mud Australia
South Pole experts supported Mud Australia with their climate neutrality ambition, working with them to achieve the Climate Neutral Company label for the year 2020.
To achieve the label, Mud Australia had to take a number of steps to ensure they met South Pole's comprehensive criteria. This included measuring their footprint, setting targets in-line with science, developing a reduction plan and compensating for their unavoidable emissions. Firstly, the greenhouse gas emissions from their 2020 operations were measured and analysed to identify the total footprint and hotspot areas. Top sources of emissions included their electricity, raw materials, packaging and transport services. Mud Australia is already working on initiatives to reduce their footprint in these areas, as seen with their renewable energy procurement, and will continue to work with the South Pole team to execute their emission reduction plan.
To compensate for their unavoidable emissions, Mud Australia has chosen to support a renewable energy project in New Caledonia and the Sahamitr Wastewater Treatment project in Thailand, generating thermal energy and electricity by capturing the methane emissions from wastewater storage. In addition to this, Mud Australia is also protecting critical Australian biodiversity by supporting the Mount Sandy Conservation Project in South Australia.
South Pole is currently working with Mud Australia to re-verify their climate neutral status, measuring their FY2022 greenhouse gas footprint, reviewing the reductions they have achieved and helping them compensate for remaining emissions by financing climate action projects.
"We've worked with South Pole for three years now and appreciate their thoroughness, detail focus and clear benchmarking processes that have made our climate neutral journey relatively straightforward."
—James Kirton Executive Director, Mud Australia
Islands of the Pacific Ocean like New Caledonia face serious environmental and socioeconomic pressures that are exacerbated by climate change. Pacific Island nations are already severely affected by extreme weather and climate variability, and their inhabitants are amongst the world's most vulnerable communities to the growing effects of climate change. Yet in New Caledonia, 80% of energy demands are met by fossil fuel power plants. The Prony Wind Power project involves six wind farms, helping to drive the transition to clean energy in the region.
Tapioca starch production is a large industry in Thailand. However, the starch production process produces great amounts of wastewater which, when stored in large open lagoons, produces the harmful greenhouse gas methane. This gas is not only damaging to the atmosphere but also creates an unpleasant smell in communities surrounding the starch factory. The Sahamitr Tapioca Wastewater Treatment project introduces an innovative system for capturing and repurposing methane emissions, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing an alternative energy resource to the burning of fossil fuels.
The Coorong National Park and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert are the meeting point of the Murray River, Australia's largest river, and the Southern Ocean. This water source has a catchment area of over one million square kilometres. Part of South Australia's Limestone Coast, this region features some of the country's most breathtaking landscapes. However, land surrounding these national treasures has been largely cleared for agriculture. The Mount Sandy project ensures permanent protection for a regionally and culturally important pocket of biodiversity-rich land in partnership with its Traditional Owners.
