Mercedes me Melbourne: spreading the message through carboNZero

Mercedes me store Melbourne prides itself on taking a leadership stance, especially in the space of emissions and climate action.  Therefore, going for carboNZero^CertTM certification was an easy choice.

“The Mercedes me concept is all about shining light on important community topics – and of course, environmental sustainability is one of the biggest issues of our time,” says Simon Johnson, General Manager at Mercedes me Melbourne.

When Melbourne’s rich café culture meets the Mercedes-Benz lifestyle, we find Mercedes me Melbourne – an innovative concept store which, in partnership with ST. ALi, runs as a café by day. At night, it turns into an event space to showcase innovations in art, food, fashion and much more.

Mercedes-Benz is leading global brand with a goal to develop emission-free driving in the future. “carboNZero certification aligns well with that vision of the broader company,” says Simon.

Identifying the source of their emissions was the biggest surprise during the carboNZero process, according to Lead Brand Specialist, Matt Bruce. Electricity accounts for 80 percent of their emissions, and the Mercedes me team realised they could achieve quick wins simply through off-peak and better appliance management overnight.

They also prioritised collaboration with in-house hospitality partner ST. ALi, as their impact was significant as comes with the territory -  food waste and general kitchen operations.

“Waste is really about human behaviour; colour coding and making it as simple as possible helps staff feel comfortable knowing where each stream of waste should go” says Matt.

When word of carboNZero certification got to the Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Head Office, celebrations ensued.

“Matt shared with our head office our certification achievement, and it was really nice to see how excited the office team company-wide were and the feedback we received from them”, says Simon.

“We felt that all levels of the organisation, from interns to management leaders, were very supportive and wanted to do more from a head office perspective, after hearing about our experiences at Mercedes me. This journey felt very rewarding when we received emails from people saying how proud they are to work for a company taking such a leadership approach.”

Despite the accolades, this is just a starting point for Mercedes me Melbourne. In addition to focusing on improvements through quick wins, another objective for them is to bring their community together, have conversations about sustainability and come up with innovative solutions by creating connections with community leaders.

“Having this certification has helped us realise that we can spread the message of our journey. We are going to be writing to our key stakeholders with a little gift and message on our recent certification. Every little bit of momentum helps” says Simon.