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New Zealand’s work to reduce carbon emissions crossed a new frontier last night with the launch of our first-ever gamified carbon calculator – FutureFit. FutureFit for business is a new sustainability tool with a staff-engagement twist. The aim is to empower staff to reduce their carbon footprints.

Ricoh has become the 81st signatory of the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC). The company joins a group of New Zealand businesses who, collectively, represent more than half of New Zealand’s gross emissions, at least a quarter of private sector GDP and employ more than 150,000 New Zealanders. CLC members are committed to measuring and reporting their GHG emissions, setting targets and working with suppliers to reduce those emissions, to help keep global warming within 1.5 degrees.

Digital services provider Spark is introducing Mini Countryman plugin hybrids (PHEVs) to its vehicle fleets – probably the first in Australasia to do so in bulk. The first 30 are due towards the end of March, with a further 40 also ordered, then another 60 or 80 leased PHEVs could
be added depending upon demand. It’s part of the company’s EV strategy co-ordinated by Marc Solomon, Spark’s sourcing business partner in charge of fleets.

Big corporates are lining up to prove their carbon credentials, responding to a huge shift in public, and political opinion.

The Warehouse has gone carbon neutral by buying carbon credits and planting native trees to “offset” the carbon it emits selling us stuff.

Air New Zealand has signed up to the Dryland Carbon partnership with Genesis Energy and Z Energy to plant mainly “exotic” trees like radiata pine to offset emissions.

Climate Leaders Coalition signatories Air New Zealand, Z Energy, Contact Energy together with Genesis Energy have joined forces to establish a forestry portfolio to sequester carbon. The partnership is a great example of Coalition signatories coming together to mitigate climate change.

Naylor Love has made a genuine and profound commitment to be the leader in sustainable construction practices and the champion of sustainable construction products in New Zealand.
We’re delighted to announce that Naylor Love has joined the Climate Leaders Coalition, a group of 80 New Zealand businesses who have committed to tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions.

Dave Bryce started monitoring his family’s carbon dioxide emissions about 12 years ago. At the time, they were emitting something close to the average for a New Zealand family. These days, he and his wife are emitting about one-eighth of the emissions of an average family, he says.
Bryce knows this because he uses Landcare Research’s Household Emissions Calculator, a free online tool that captures electricity use, transport and household waste and estimates CO2 emissions in kilograms.

The barriers to switching may not be as great as they seem.

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The Co-op has been working closely with Z Energy since 2014 to help introduce biodiesel to New Zealand as part of its commitment to reduce emissions across its operations.

Fast forward to 2019, Fonterra now has its 156 tankers in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty area producing 4% less emissions per year.

Meridian Energy’s commitment to EVs has gone global with the company joining the international EV100 initiative by pledging to operate a 100% electric fleet by 2030. Meridian joins overseas companies like Baidu, DHL and HP as well as local companies including Air New Zealand and Christchurch Airport.

Emissions reductions initiatives, governance and value chain engagement were among the company’s highest scoring categories.

Vector, the country’s largest electricity distributor, was yesterday given the ‘best first-time performance’ award, and an above average overall score for the sector and region, at an event marking the release of the CDP 2018 Regional Disclosure Report Launch.

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