Signatory News

Billions of dollars of industrial buildings face becoming ‘stranded assets’ warns a new report by the Australian and New Zealand Green Building Councils today.

Green Star in focus: The case for sustainable industrial buildings warns of the increasing risk of significant industrial assets becoming stranded if they can’t show that they are low or zero carbon.

The report finds that new Green Star certified industrial buildings produce 66% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than standard buildings and shows that a minimal 2% upfront cost to support green design can result, on average, in lifecycle savings of 20% of total construction costs.

The report underscores that the technology, design, materials and expertise are available now to build more sustainable buildings which will meet investors’ growing demand for future-proofed investments that uphold environmental and social governance principles.

Fonterra is one step away from pushing the go button on its first factory to convert from coal to wood pellet energy.

The dairy company’s Te Awamutu plant in the Waikato is putting the finishing touches on the $11 million power source conversion which could be used as a blueprint for its other factories around the country.

It was part of the company’s move to renewable energy and to reduce emissions as it worked towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The brewery behind Heineken, Monteith’s and Tui has big plans to cut its carbon footprint.

Between the arrival of the ingredients and the departure of the product, each litre of beer or cider produces the equivalent of 0.076 kilograms of carbon dioxide. By the end of the decade, DB Breweries wants to slash that figure in half.

All up, the brewer’s processes emitted 8,149 tonnes of carbon dioxide last year, according to its just-released sustainability report – roughly what’s produced when 1045 passengers fly return from Auckland to Heathrow. Compared with 2018, the company shaved 1,032 tonnes (or 11 per cent) off its production footprint.

New Zealanders are more satisfied with the Government’s efforts to combat climate change than they were a year ago.

But fewer than half rate the effort as good, according to the latest Ipsos poll for insurer IAG.

46 per cent think the Government’s actions in response to climate change are good, up from 35 per cent last year.

Only one in five rated the Government’s response as poor, down from 28 per cent last year – an overall improvement in the Government’s standing.

Funding is being offered by NZ Post to help its delivery contractors replace their vans with EVs.

As there isn’t an EV available for every application in the van fleet, NZ Post will maintain the funding offer until it reaches its target of 25% of “last mile” contractors using EVs by 2025.

When the rubber hits the road, will we be on track for smooth sailing?

That’s the question a group of heavy transport companies are currently asking themselves. As part of an SBC collaboration, they’ve set an incredibly ambitious objective to develop a low emissions pathway that will halve emissions from the domestic freight sector by 2030, and be net zero by 2050.

Understand what strategies you can put in place now to ensure your business is still providing value to stakeholders in 2030 and beyond.

Click the link to head to DETA Consulting’s website and download its carbon roadmap guide.

If one in five Kiwis opt to work from home once a week, we’d prevent 84,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to taking 35,000 cars off the road, according to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

The country could also cut our transport emissions by another 65,000 tonnes if business travellers flying between Auckland and Wellington chose to swap their meeting for a Zoom, Google or Teams video chat, the authority calculated.

Life in lockdown prompted many of us to consider what’s really essential in our lives; which adaptations we might keep, and what we can do without. Stuff’s second issue of The Forever Project magazine – out today – explores how New Zealand can bounce back from Covid-19 in a climate-friendly way.

The Forever Project is the new home for New Zealand’s most ambitious environmental reporting and climate coverage. It includes daily reporting across all of Stuff’s platforms, as well as the carbon-neutral, quarterly print publication.

A pilot trial seeking to identify a possible link between the methane cows produce and their genetics has got underway in the Waikato.

The trial involving dairy breeding bulls is believed to be a world-first and is being run by Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) and CRV which together sire 90% of the New Zealand dairy herd through their artificial breeding bulls. The project has received funding from the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGGRC).

thinkstep-anz together with 155 leading companies worldwide advocate for governments to prioritise climate action aligned with the Paris Agreement in their economic recovery plans. Released earlier today, the aptly named ‘Recover Better’ statement is organised by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the UN Global Compact and the We Mean Business coalition. It asks businesses and governments to pair their economic response to Covid-19 with ambitious climate action to recover better together.

ASB has achieved a major step towards its climate goals, by achieving carboNZero certification from Toitu Envirocare. The certification validates ASB’s plan to reduce its carbon emissions in line with international targets.