Sustainability Report
Epcotec Pty Ltd (AU) / Epcotec Ltd (CA) · v1.2 · October 2026
Download PDFAcknowledgement of Country
Epcotec acknowledges and respects the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work: Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia, and the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada. We recognise the spiritual, cultural and economic significance of those lands and waters, and we are committed to reconciliation, to equality of outcomes, and to amplifying Indigenous voices in both countries. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
A message from the Founder
At Epcotec, we are committed to creating better futures for our people, partners and communities. Our approach to sustainability is grounded in our values and expressed in the way we work every day, not in a separate program.
We are on a deliberate journey to measure and reduce our carbon footprint, and to build a reporting rhythm that keeps us honest about progress and gaps alike. Through the software we build and run, and through the senior people who build it, we help our clients achieve social, environmental and economic results, and we hold ourselves to the same standard.
Eugene Pivnev, Founder & Managing Director, Epcotec
About Epcotec
Epcotec is a senior software engineering studio and applied R&D practice, working since 2011. Our mission is to invest in the success of our clients and create an environment where our people do their best work: delivering software our clients own and run with confidence, built by the senior engineers who scope the work.
We are a founder-led business of 57 specialists across 11 departments, spanning engineering, product, data, security, compliance, research and delivery. We work remote-first across Australia and Canada and have delivered more than 734 engagements over 15 years of continuous operation. We are privately held and proud of the culture our people have built: direct, accountable, and richer for the diversity our people bring.
Our values
| Value | What it means at Epcotec |
|---|---|
| Excellence | Senior-grade craft; the highest professional and engineering standards. |
| Integrity | Honesty and candour; if we are not the right team, we say so. |
| Ownership | We own delivery and accountability; our clients own their code and IP. |
| Courage | We challenge assumptions, do the hard right thing, and give and take honest feedback. |
| Collaboration | One team across practices; direct, unmediated work with the people who build. |
| Care | For our people, our clients, our communities and the environment. |
Our sustainability statement
Epcotec exists to build software, and the responsibility that comes with that is to build it well and to run our business in a way that does not cost the future more than it must. We see three places where we can genuinely make a difference: the digital systems we build, the way we run our business, and the communities we are part of. Working from our values, we embed sustainability principles in our business practices and aim for social, environmental and economic outcomes we can stand behind, for our people, our clients and the wider community. With our clients, we pursue sustainable outcomes through software: efficient, right-sized, well-governed systems, built by engaged people who care about the result.
Our sustainability journey
| Stage | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Foundation | Adopted a Sustainability Policy and aligned our Environmental and Quality policies with ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. |
| Baseline | Establishing a carbon footprint baseline across Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 sources. |
| Next period | Publish a first quantified footprint and a diversity and inclusion baseline. |
| Long-term | Set measurable climate and inclusion goals, and embed sustainability across every engagement. |
The most significant impact lies in the software itself: the energy our clients' systems consume over their lifetime. We treat that as our primary lever and measure it accordingly.
Governance
Sustainability is part of our business strategy and strategic planning cycle. The Founder sponsors sustainability and is accountable for our direction; senior management and team leads carry it into day-to-day decisions. We review our sustainability effectiveness annually, identifying risks and opportunities that inform the next planning cycle, so we remain aligned to our long-term business strategy and values.
Policies and procedures
We maintain a documented policy suite that supports a sustainable, healthy, safe and productive workplace, including:
- Code of Conduct: ethical, professional and legal behaviour.
- Environmental Policy: aligned with ISO 14001.
- Quality Policy: aligned with ISO 9001.
- Diversity & Inclusion Policy: a fair and
inclusive workplace.
- Work Health & Safety Policy: safe workplaces,
including remote and laboratory settings.
- Privacy Policy: responsible handling of personal information.
Our commitments are stated in the Sustainability Policy.
Our people
We are remote-first, which shapes how we care for our people. We invest in learning and development, support wellbeing, and work to build a team where everyone can do their best work.
- Learning and development. We support ongoing professional growth, from cloud and security
certifications to engineering craft and applied R&D skills, so our people grow as we do.
- Diversity and inclusion. We believe our differences are our strength. We are establishing
the measurement baseline for diversity and inclusion, and will publish it and set representation goals, including for leadership. No representation numbers are claimed before that baseline exists.
- Wellbeing. We support the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of our people,
including access to confidential support and the flexibility remote work provides.
- Reconciliation and inclusion. We honour and learn from Australia's First Nations peoples and
Canada's Indigenous peoples, and we mark the cultural moments that matter to our team.
Our community
We contribute to the communities where we live and work:
- Reconciliation commitment. We are developing a reconciliation commitment that pursues
cultural awareness, truth-telling and stronger relationships, including supporting Indigenous-owned businesses and acting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action.
- Community giving. We support causes our people care about through donations, sponsorships
and volunteering, in line with our charitable giving policy.
- Digital inclusion. We lend our engineering skills where they can help, supporting community
and education initiatives in the places we operate.
The environment
Our footprint is digital. As a remote-first software studio, our environmental impact concentrates in a few places:
- Cloud and hosting: the dominant share of our footprint. We prefer renewable-powered regions
and right-size what we run.
- Hardware and e-waste: we buy for longevity, repair and redeploy, and recycle through
certified channels.
- The applied R&D lab: optics, laser and plasma experiments operate under controlled
procedures that prevent pollution and manage waste responsibly.
- Travel: remote-first by default; we travel only when it materially improves the outcome.
Our carbon baseline is being established. We will report our footprint openly as it matures and set measurable reduction goals from that baseline. The boundary and method are set out in our Carbon Footprint Report.
Partnering with clients
Sustainability is part of how we build software. We work with our clients to make their systems more efficient and responsible:
- Efficient code: less compute, less energy and lower cost over the system's life.
- Right-sized cloud: provision only what the workload needs, and scale down the rest.
- Data minimisation: collect, store and retain only what is needed, and delete the rest.
- Well-governed operations: observability, security and life-cycle management that keep
systems lean and safe.
Forward commitments
| Focus area | Commitment | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Establish a carbon baseline (Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3). | Next reporting period |
| Climate | Set measurable reduction targets from the baseline. | Following baseline |
| Cloud and hosting | Prefer renewable-powered regions and providers; right-size compute. | Ongoing |
| Hardware and e-waste | Operate a documented life-cycle and recycling approach. | Ongoing |
| Travel | Keep travel minimal through our remote-first policy. | Ongoing |
| People | Publish a diversity and inclusion baseline and set representation goals. | Next reporting period |
| Community | Develop a reconciliation commitment (AU First Nations + Canada Indigenous). | Next reporting period |
| Governance | Formalise an ESG reporting framework and annual review. | Following baseline |
Looking ahead
Our vision is clear: to build software our clients own and run with confidence, in a way that respects people and the planet. By measuring before claiming, improving what we can influence and reporting both progress and gaps, we are working toward a future where sustainability is part of every decision we make.
Approved: Eugene Pivnev, Founder & Managing Director, Epcotec
Version 1.2, 2 October 2026