ESG & Sustainability

A measurable plan for a more responsible business — built for a 200-seat Australian company.

Environment, Social and Governance commitments framed the way our customers, our team and our community deserve: with clear targets, transparent measurement, and the discipline to actually deliver against them.

Our approach

Realistic ambition. Honest measurement. Continuous improvement.

We're not a global multinational. We are a Sydney-based, Australian-staffed, mid-market technology firm with around 200 people. That gives us both the responsibility to act and the ability to do so authentically — without greenwash, without performative claims, without the inertia that comes with vast scale.

We've taken the patterns we admire from the world's strongest ESG programs — Microsoft's measurement discipline, Atlassian's transparency, B-Corp's verification standard, Patagonia's environmental honesty — and translated them into commitments that actually fit a 200-person Australian organisation: specific, costed, measurable, and reported every year.

Our commitments at a glance

Twelve specific, measurable, time-bound commitments.

E

100% renewable electricity

Across all System Squared offices and our Sydney North Integration Centre across all sites — through a combination of GreenPower contracts and verified renewable energy certificates (RECs).

E

Carbon neutrality (Scope 1 & 2)

Sydney North Integration Centre achieved carbon-neutral status. Extending the same Scope 1 & 2 neutrality across all four Australian offices.

E

Scope 3 baseline & ↓ 30% reduction

Measured Scope 3 emissions baseline (supply chain, business travel, employee commute, product lifecycle) published, with a 30% reduction target on the horizon.

E

Zero device to landfill

100% of devices we touch through our Integration Centre disposed of via certified channels — NIST-grade data destruction, environmental recycling, with chain-of-custody reporting to every customer.

S

1 volunteer day per person, every year

Every System Squared employee gets one paid volunteer day per year for a charity or community cause of their choosing. 100% participation target. Reported annually.

S

Reconciliation Action Plan — established

Our Reflect RAP, established with Reconciliation Australia, continuing with a documented progression toward an Innovate RAP. Acknowledgement of Country is standard at every formal meeting.

S

Charity sponsorship & contribution

Active sponsorship of three nominated charity partners, plus matched payroll giving for any cause an employee chooses. Total community contribution published in our annual ESG report.

S

Gender pay gap reported & closed

Aligned to WGEA reporting. Pay gap measured, published and actively closed — targeting less than 5% across like-for-like roles, narrowing each year.

S

Mental health & wellbeing

Confidential EAP for every employee and immediate family. R U OK Day participation. Manager training in psychological safety. Annual engagement and wellbeing survey published internally.

G

Board cyber-risk oversight

Cyber risk on the leadership agenda every quarter. Independent annual security audit. Customer data sovereignty maintained — all client data resident in Australia.

G

Modern Slavery & supplier code

Modern Slavery Statement published annually. Supplier Code of Conduct in effect. Tier-1 supplier ESG assessment in place; expanding to Tier-2 next phase.

G

Whistleblower & ethics

Independent whistleblower channel. Annual code-of-conduct attestation by 100% of employees. Published anti-bribery and conflict-of-interest policies.

Environment — in detail

From energy to e-waste, the actions behind the commitment.

  • Green energy procurement for all offices: Sydney HQ, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, plus our Sydney North Integration Centre and Warehouse
  • Carbon-neutral integration centre — operational, audited annually
  • Active green initiatives committee — employee-led, executive-sponsored, quarterly programs
  • Circular IT — refurbishment, redeployment, and certified recycling for end-of-life hardware
  • Travel discipline — virtual-first meetings, public transport reimbursement, EV salary packaging available
  • Office sustainability — paperless operations, low-energy lighting, recycling streams in every office

Renewable electricity

100%

target across all sites

Scope 1 & 2 neutral

Achieved ✓

Sydney North — extending to all offices

Scope 3 reduction

↓ 30%

reduction target, baseline in progress

Devices to landfill

0%

100% certified disposal pathway

Social — in detail

Our people, our customers, our community.

People

  • Funded certifications and learning
  • EAP and mental-health support
  • Flexible work as standard
  • Gender pay gap actively closed
  • Annual engagement survey

Community

  • 1 paid volunteer day per employee per year
  • Three nominated charity partners
  • Matched payroll giving
  • City2Surf and similar fundraising team events
  • Foodbank annual volunteer day

First Nations & reconciliation

  • Reflect RAP established with Reconciliation Australia
  • Acknowledgement of Country at all formal meetings
  • Path to Innovate RAP
  • First Nations supplier engagement
  • Cultural awareness training

Governance — in detail

How we govern the firm, the data, and every relationship in our value chain.

Our governance commitments are deliberately specific, measurable, and lived every day — not just published once a year. They cover how we run the business, how we treat each other, and how we choose the partners and customers we engage with.

Corporate governance practices

  • Quarterly cyber and risk reporting to leadership
  • Independent annual security audit
  • ISO 27001-aligned controls internally
  • Crisis and incident-response plan tested annually
  • Documented delegations of authority
  • Annual financial audit by an independent firm

Ethical business practices

  • Annual code-of-conduct attestation by 100% of employees
  • Independent whistleblower channel — anonymous, protected
  • Published anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy
  • Conflict-of-interest register — declared, reviewed, mitigated
  • Honest commercial conduct — no misrepresentation, no hidden margin, no surprise pricing
  • Manager training on ethical decision-making and psychological safety

Ethical, sustainable value chain

  • Engage only ethical and sustainable value-chain partners
  • Supplier Code of Conduct in effect across all engagements
  • Tier-1 supplier ESG assessment in place; Tier-2 next phase
  • Modern Slavery Statement published annually with the Australian Government register
  • Active screening for forced-labour, environmental and human-rights risk
  • Preference for partners with verifiable ESG practices

Customers, treated fairly & honestly

  • Transparent SLAs and reporting — no asterisks, no hidden caveats
  • Genuine advice, even when it costs us — recommend what's right, not what's biggest
  • Honest pricing, predictable invoicing, no scope-creep tactics
  • Independent escalation channel for any commercial dispute
  • Customer satisfaction measured monthly (4.9/5 CSAT) and reported back

Suppliers, treated fairly & honestly

  • Transparent procurement criteria and decision rationale
  • Prompt-payment commitment — invoices paid on terms or earlier
  • Long-term partnership orientation, not transactional churn
  • Equal opportunity for First Nations and small Australian suppliers
  • Quarterly supplier feedback channel for continuous improvement

Data & security governance

  • Australian data sovereignty for all client data
  • Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles compliance
  • Customer data classification, handling and retention standards
  • Annual control attestation by leadership
  • Continuous monitoring, independently reviewed

Roadmap

Targets, by year

Commitment Achieved Current Near-term Long-term
Carbon neutral (Scope 1 & 2)Sydney North ✓All officesMaintainMaintain
100% renewable electricityIn progress100%MaintainMaintain
Scope 3 baseline & reductionScopingBaseline published↓ 10%↓ 30%
Volunteer day participation85%95%100%100%
RAP — Reconciliation AustraliaReflect ✓Reflect — annual reviewInnovateStretch
Gender pay gap (like-for-like)< 7%< 5%< 3%0%
Tier-1 supplier ESG assessmentIn progressTier-1 100%Tier-2 launchedTier-2 100%

Reporting

What we publish, and when.

Annual ESG report

Published annually covering the previous financial year. Audited Scope 1 & 2 emissions, social commitments, governance attestations.

Modern Slavery Statement

Lodged with the Australian Government Modern Slavery Statements Register annually.

WGEA report

Annual gender equality reporting submitted to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Want to talk to us about ESG and supplier alignment?

If you're a customer, partner or prospective employee evaluating us on ESG, we are happy to share our latest reports, supplier code of conduct, and detailed measurement methodology under NDA.