Planet Footprint was started in 2005 to respond to a need for local government to have on-demand environmental performance information to comply with mandatory and compulsory reporting programs. Andrew Wales (now Managing Director) had spent many years working with local government and shared their frustration from dealing with large volumes of hard-to-get data.
Interest in the Planet Footprint program grew quickly. By mid 2006 it was clear that local governments needed more than just compliance. In response to that a full independent environmental score keeping service including data management, reporting and benchmarking was developed. Planet Footprint incorporated under the directorship of Andrew Wales and Dean Jackson.
The service quickly expanded from 15 pilot municipalities to over 50 by the end of 2007. This growth continued into 2008, with an additional 100 local governments joining the program by year's end. 2008 also saw Planet Footprint expand beyond local government to deliver its services to 1,600 schools and various state government and private enterprise clients.
Today, Planet Footprint employs a highly skilled team of sustainability experts, engineers and I.T. specialists to deliver world-leading scorekeeping services to over 175 local government, state government and private sector clients.
With local government operations for over half of the Australian population covered, the service has expanded into the US, Canada and other countries. Planet Footprint's service-based approach to environmental scorekeeping gives it natural capacity to adapt to and influence the changing disciplines of energy, water and greenhouse management by mixing global experience with a focus on local management and reporting issues.