News

Auckland Council has recommitted to membership of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group with the council’s Environment and Community Committee endorsing Auckland’s reapplication for C40 affiliation.

Councillor Penny Hulse, chair of the Environment and Community Committee, says the C40 report stresses that cities and nations must commit to bold and coordinated climate action in the next few years.

Transport has a key role to play in New Zealand’s low-carbon future. thinkstep has published a new report presenting four future visions for New Zealand in which the carbon footprint of transport is reduced by up to 90% of 2015 levels by 2050 through a combination of new vehicle technologies and behavioural changes.

But what does that mean? How (and when) did Flick become carboNZero certified? And what has Flick done to reduce emissions?

Diverting food waste from landfills can help companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Courtney Simpson, Group Manager Environment, tells the Sustainable Business Council how SKYCITY Auckland diverted the equivalent of 142 buses of food from landfill, reducing their emissions by 15% in one year.

Waste Management today launched our sustainability strategy called For Future Generations which provides the foundation for the future sustainability of our company and the communities in which we operate across New Zealand. In developing For Future Generations, Waste Management engaged external and internal stakeholders to identify those issues considered material for us to address in order to be sustainable for the future.

A group of local and international businesses has joined forces to stop mountains of e-waste being created by the rising number of large lithium-ion batteries in New Zealand. Led by energy company Vector, the Battery Leaders Group aims to find circular economy solutions for the batteries that are powering everything from electric vehicles to Vector Lights when they reach their end of life.

Source: Voxy
New Zealand freight and logistics company TIL Logistics Group Limited (NZX: TLL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with New Plymouth-based Hiringa Energy Limited to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology transport solutions in New Zealand. The project has the potential to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from TIL’s national fleet of 900 trucks, 310 forklifts and 170 light vehicles.

A charity events space committed to producing 105% of its energy needs is already beating this by more than 50%, thanks to solar and battery solution from energy company Vector. Just one week into a year-long assessment period for the Living Building Challenge, the Sustainable Coastlines Flagship Education Centre is already generating 164% of its energy needs.

Waste Management’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Innovation Hub has recently completed our first local and 100% electric truck conversion! Our electric box body truck yesterday commenced operating out of our Technical Services branch in East Tamaki, Auckland, collecting medical waste from Middlemore and Greenlane Hospitals.

Ecostore has announced that more than 80% of its packaging is made with renewable, sustainable sugar, and thanks to this significant investment, ecostore has helped save 4,485 tonnes of carbon from being released into the atmosphere since the company converted its packaging from petrochemical plastic to biobased ‘sugar’ plastic four years ago. The total savings achieved to date are equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted during 8,500 car journeys from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

Source: Scoop
Saul Chambers, WSP Opus Manager Sustainability & Climate Change Solutions, is genuinely excited about the opportunity CLC presents to solve the challenging issues around climate change. “There’s no doubt that we’re in a time of unprecedented change as a business, local and national governments and cities get to grips with climate change, but that also brings the opportunity to collaborate for better outcomes. There’s a lot of positivity about how we can approach solutions and it’s a great time to take a breath and decide how, as a nation, we want New Zealand to be in the future.”