Signatory News

For the fifth year in a row, ecostore has come out on top of the unprompted list of sustainable brands in New Zealand. The Colmar Brunton Better Futures report, released yesterday evening, asked New Zealanders which brands were leaders in sustainability and ecostore was again mentioned unprompted by those surveyed as being leaders in sustainability. Furthermore, when prompted, eighty-three percent of those surveyed named ecostore as a leading sustainable brand in New Zealand.

Use of renewable resources, care for the environment through business practice, and a focus on quality natural ingredients were among the reasons people thought of brands as sustainability leaders.

Toyota has a global vision of future ‘eco-cars’ which have no negative environmental effects and help the transition to a low carbon society.

Transport is New Zealand’s second largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and we rank fifth highest among OECD member countries per capita. New Zealand’s vehicle fleet is among the oldest in the developed world, and one of the least fuel efficient.

There’s an old TED Talk from 2010 about how to start a movement, illustrated by a video of a “lone nut” dancing at a music festival. It stuck with me, not just because of the lone nut’s unique sense of rhythm, but because it’s much the same way I view the movement of business leaders taking voluntary action on climate change.

Auckland energy company Vector and Dutch start-up Chargetrip have teamed up to ease ‘range and charge anxiety’ among New Zealand’s rapidly growing number of electric vehicle (EV) users.

Range anxiety is a term often used to describe the stress EV users experience when their destination is or could be further than their car battery’s range, and they fear they could end up stranded on the side of the road. Charge anxiety is caused by the uncertainty of waiting lines at charge stations. Both are considered major barriers keeping people from switching to electric driving.

Sustainability-focused PR agency, Wright Communications, has joined the Climate Leaders Coalition as part of its on-going commitment to sustainability and reducing climate change.

Managing Director Nikki Wright said as well as ensuring the agency was committed to reducing its own carbon footprint, its overarching business purpose is to encourage and empower its clients to become better corporate citizens.

One of New Zealand’s leading tourism operators, Ngāi Tahu Tourism, will adopt electric vehicle chargers at some of its businesses, helping to expand the national electric vehicle (EV) charging network. Ngāi Tahu Tourism is a subsidiary of Ngāi Tahu Holdings, which is governed by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

Auckland’s popular west coast surfing mecca Piha Beach will soon become home to a cutting-edge trial into the broader customer benefits of electric vehicle (EV) technology.

Auckland electricity lines company Vector has today been approved for co-funding from the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund to explore the potential network and customer resiliency benefits of vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology.

Electric vehicle leaders, Meridian Energy, are proud to have been approved for co-funding through the Government’s Low Emissions Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in New Zealand.

Meridian’s Chief Customer Officer, Julian Smith says that the company is thrilled to receive support from the fund, which will enable more people to experience the benefits of electric vehicles which helps our country to combat climate change.

Ports of Auckland is delighted to learn today that it has been approved for part-funding for the purchase of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF), administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Ports of Auckland, along with its project partners Auckland Transport, Auckland Council and KiwiRail will procure a hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) bus and three HFC cars as part of its wider project to build a hydrogen fuel production plant. The fund will be providing 14% of the estimated cost of these vehicles.

Air New Zealand is the first airline in the world to scoop two awards at the Air Transport World Airline Industry Awards. The awards, which are considered the ‘Oscars of the airline industry’, will be presented in New York in March.

Air New Zealand has been crowned ATW Eco Airline of the Year and won the Passenger Experience Achievement award for recent upgrades to its Economy Skycouch seats.

The Eco-Airline of the Year award recognises Air New Zealand’s portfolio of sustainability work. This includes the airline’s commitment to reducing waste through its Project Green initiative, engagement with and support for regional New Zealand communities and reducing carbon emissions both within the airline’s own operations and encouraging travellers to do the same through its voluntary carbon offsetting programme, FlyNeutral.

It’s easy to get distracted by the politics of climate change.
For business, the best approach is to push past the emotion and join the rest of the world – or at least most of it – in assessing both the business risks and opportunities, a key expert says.

” Focus on [climate] as a business risk and a business opportunity because this is where people will make money or lose money over the next 20 to 30 years.”

What is the Industrial Re-revolution?
Industry has progressed us forward as humans but the implications for the environment have been detrimental at best. The idea of the Industrial Re-revolution is to acknowledge the fact that industry is necessary for the way the economy works in the human world but to explore new ways of making it work that do not cause harm and, in fact, drive positive change for the Earth. In order to meet the carbon emission targets needed to combat catastrophic climate change, the corporate sector must change the way it works. A key way for corporations to ensure they stay within carbon emission targets is through the use of organisations such as thinkstep, which helps to assess a company’s environmental footprint and set a clear pathway for sustainable growth with a reduced impact on the Earth.