Signatory News

Auckland Transport’s zero-emission bus fleet will be showcased in a virtual exhibition at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow this month.

The COP 26 summit improves the global efforts of countries all over the world to play their part in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Auckland Transport’s (AT) transition to zero-emission buses has been recognised in a C40 cities exhibition at COP 26, along with a number of wider Auckland Council initiatives to reduce carbon emissions.

Dryland Carbon was established to match its investor partners’ (including AirNZ, Contact Energy, Genesis Energy and Z Energy) need to source carbon offsets with farmers’ potential ability to provide them.

In order to achieve that, general manager Colin Jacobs says rather than buying land, Dryland Carbon works in partnership with existing landowners. Having identified suitable non-productive or ‘least’ productive land on a property, they undertake all the planting and deliver the landowner an annual cash payment akin to a lease for 16 years – aligned with the ETS determination of a forests’ average age. The landowner will then get a 50% share of the timber harvest and the land will be replanted with a new forest. In return, Dryland Carbon gets the carbon credits from the plantation.

We have joined the UN’s Race to Zero campaign, adding our voice to a global call for industry to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 to minimise global warming.

We have signed up to the global alliance along with 13 Australian water utilities supported by the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) and those represented by Water UK, who have also pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.

Global leaders are meeting in Glasgow to commit their countries to deliver on the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says, “Auckland Council understands the need for urgent action on climate, having declared a climate emergency in 2019. We have taken our commitments seriously and have developed a blueprint for halving emissions by 2030, supported by an additional $152 million of new climate investment in our recent 10-year Budget which lays the groundwork for further action.

With delegations from around the world descending on Glasgow for the negotiations and events making up COP26, attendees from New Zealand include representatives from both the Sustainable Business Council and the Climate Leaders Coalition.

We talked to some of those who will be taking part on the ground in Glasgow to find out why they are going, and what they are hoping to achieve. This week we hear from David Benattar, Chief Sustainability Officer for The Warehouse Group.

The AT Local EV car and van service offers a quick and reliable way to travel around the suburbs, as well as providing easy connections to other public transport.

“AT Local vehicles are fully electric and if the trial of this service is successful it will enable more people to leave their cars at home, helping to reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion on our roads,” Auckland mayor Phil Goff says.

Westpac NZ and Pāmu have signed New Zealand’s most comprehensive Sustainability-Linked Loan to date, also the largest in the agricultural sector, and the first involving a state-owned enterprise.

Auckland Council’s retail Green Bond offer last week raised $300 million, seeing the council surpass $1 billion in funds raised through the sustainable finance framework.

Transpower has published its six monthly monitoring report on the transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s energy system towards assisting the net zero carbon transition. It shows that while good progress is being made, this must be built upon.

Z Energy is partnering with Finnish refiner Neste to bring drop-in biofuels to the New Zealand market.

The renewable fuels are high-quality and unlike conventional biofuels they are considered “drop-in” fuels as they are suitable to be used in existing diesel vehicle or aircraft fleet, the company says.

New Zealand is ranked ninth globally in KPMG’s first ever Net Zero Readiness Index (NZRI) released today in the lead-up to COP26. The benchmark report compares the progress of 32 countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and assesses their preparedness and ability to achieve net zero by 2050. Norway took the overall top ranking, with the UK and Sweden in second and third place.

Genesis is pleased to see that the ERP discussion document recognises a national energy strategy is an important foundation for decarbonising New Zealand and that electricity has a key role to play as part of that. We would like to see Government move quickly to define a long-term national energy strategy with a strong commitment to a more renewable energy system supported by clear policies developed in collaboration with business. We believe a focus on carbon intensive areas such as process heat and transport should be a priority, recognising the opportunity for electricity to support a lower carbon Aotearoa.