Access Studio is an established independent Australian-owned Accessibility Consulting firm based in Melbourne. Our exceptional team includes accredited access consultants, architects, and experienced business staff with a proven track record consulting to projects across Australia.

Working across a diverse range of building types, occupancies, and configurations, Access Studio has extensive experience in residential and commercial, as well as education (K-12), university, and community projects. Access Studio has proven experience working with local, state, and federal governments on a range of community infrastructure projects, including sports pavilions, community centres and correctional facilities.

With a wealth of experience in the Access field, Access Studio is equipped to provide expert advice and guidance at all project levels, from feasibility and design through to construction.

Climate Change Action:

Access Studio is a NoC02 business certified by the Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI) under the NoCO2 Program. To achieve this status and become carbon neutral Access Studio undertook the following process:

1. Commissioned a NoCO2 audit from CRI to measure their carbon footprint, through the determination of the GHG emissions that resulted from their operations over the 2024 financial year (FY2024). CRI’s NoCO2 audit follows the standards outlined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (1), in addition to the international standard ISO 14064.1 (2).
2. Have committed to offset their unavoidable emissions through the purchase of units in approved projects under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), and
3. Committed to ongoing annual auditing of their emissions.

What does NoCO2 mean?

By meeting the requirements of the NoCO2 Program, Access Studio is now a carbon neutral business. All services provided by Access Studio are carbon neutral and can display the Carbon Neutral Service Logo.

What Carbon Credit Projects do Access Studio purchase units from?

India: Clean energy from biomass:

Environmental problems in India are growing rapidly. The increasing economic development and a rapidly growing population that has taken the country from 300 million people in 1947 to more than one billion people today is putting a strain on the environment, infrastructure, and the country’s natural resources.

India’s air pollution is exacerbated by its heavy reliance on coal for power generation. Coal supplies more than half of the country’s energy needs and is used for nearly three-quarters of electricity generation. While India is fortunate to have abundant reserves of coal to power economic development, the burning of this resource, especially given the high ash content of India’s coal, has come at a cost in terms of public health risk and environmental degradation.

Reliance on coal as the major energy source has led to a nine-fold jump in carbon emissions over the past forty years. The government estimates the cost of environmental degradation has been running at 4.5% of GDP in recent years.

Biomass projects are implemented in small or large industrial plants. Their aim is to utilize agricultural waste or other non-renewable biomass residues as fuel to generate power and to lower the plants’ dependence on the local grid for electricity. Before the implementation of the project, the electricity needs of such plants were met by power from a coal-dominated grid. To meet the rising energy demands in production, a new efficient biomass boiler was installed together with a steam turbine, producing both steam and electricity. The new boilers are fuelled with locally available agricultural waste instead of traditional, emission intensive coal.

Before the start of the project, these agricultural residues were not used. They were either burned without harnessing the resulting thermal energy or simply left to decay, thereby generating methane emissions. The plant’s steam and electricity requirements can be now supplied by the new cogeneration unit. The investment required for the installation of the new cogeneration unit could not have been raised were it not for the revenue from sales of carbon credits.

Beyond the reduction of greenhouse gases, these projects contribute to local sustainable development by:

• Creating jobs
• Creating additional income for farmers from agricultural waste
• Alleviating the load on the unstable regional electricity grid
• Reducing emissions
• Creating a business case for regional empowerment through environmentally friendly technology, and
• By utilizing locally available, sustainable fuel sources thereby reducing the dependence on energy imports on a national level

The above photography is credited to the following.

1. Costa Hall Deakin University, Photo: Henry Lam
2. Nightingale Village, Photo: Tom Ross
3. Truganina Community Centre, Photo: Peter Bennetts
4. Levantine Hill Winery, Photo: Shannon McGrath
5. Truganina Community Centre, Photo: Peter Bennetts
6. Truganina Community Centre, Photo: Peter Bennetts