News

An open letter from Unilever CEO Alan Jope to our trade associations and business groups

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face, as a society and as a business. If we are to avoid the catastrophic consequences of global heating, urgent action is required to shift our economies onto a zero carbon pathway.

Like many businesses, we are seeking to accelerate climate action within our own operations and within our wider value chain.

Sistema Plastics Ltd has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by achieving Certified Emissions Measurement And Reduction Scheme (CEMARS®) certification.
CEMARS certification is a recognised greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions measurement and reduction scheme administered by Enviro-Mark Solutions (a subsidiary of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research). It is the first of a two-step process towards achieving carboNZeroCert™ certification in New Zealand.

Aucklanders have made 100 million trips in the past year, making this the biggest year for public transport in the city since 1951.

Mayor Phil Goff says, “To mark the occasion, Auckland Transport has announced that on Sunday 23 June the public can travel free on buses, trains and most ferry services. It’s a gesture by AT to say thank you to Aucklanders and to encourage new commuters to try out public transport.”

The Mayor says the switch to public transport is happening faster than was estimated, with the 100 million target being achieved months ahead of time.

Stuff launched Quick! Save the Planet in November 2018, with the goal of making climate change feel tangible, urgent and unignorable. Since then, we’ve greatly increased the quality and quantity of our climate crisis journalism.

We’re committed to ongoing coverage, and we want to make sure it’s relevant and meaningful to New Zealanders.

So, we’re asking for your feedback on better climate change coverage. We’d be grateful if you’d answer a few questions in our survey to help guide our future coverage.

SKYCITY’s The Sugar Club is combining fine dining and climate change action with New Zealand’s first ever low carbon menu developed with Enviro-Mark Solutions.Expertly created by Executive Chef, Josh Barlow, in partnership with Enviro-Mark Solutions and WWF-New Zealand, the three-course menu has been measured and assessed as low carbon using only locally sourced ingredients. The low carbon menu will be revealed tonight at an exclusive event, in celebration of World Environment Day.

Small fleets of robots cleaning up cow poop, fertiliser travelling at the speed of a jet plane, a computer-simulated rumen. Two eminent New Zealand scientists – who happen to be brothers – are applying their brains to finding high-tech solutions to farming pollution.

Onfarm greenhouse gas emissions represent the greatest proportion of dairy’s environmental footprint, Fonterra sustainable value manager Lara Phillips says. From a glass of milk, 90% of the emissions come from onfarm, 9% is from manufacturing and 1% of the footprint is from international distribution. While New Zealand dairy farmers have one of the lowest environmental footprints in the world, they can’t rest on their laurels, she says.

The Sustainable Business Council together with the Climate Leaders Coalition, EECA, Ministry for the Environment, and WWF New Zealand invite you to a one-day event to empower business action on climate change.

EMBARK is being held at SKYCITY Auckland on July 24 and is designed to help businesses learn practical ways to reduce their emissions.

Every business – large or small – has the opportunity to make a positive difference when it comes to sustainability, says OCS ANZ Managing Director, Gareth Marriott.

Mr Marriott made the comments with the release of the company’s first integrated sustainability review, covering both of its Australian and New Zealand operations.

Nearly a year ago, key New Zealand businesses formed the Climate Leaders Coalition – a group committed to measuring and reporting its greenhouse gas emissions and working towards keeping global warming within two degrees, as specified in the Paris Agreement.

So far, 89 Kiwi CEOs have signed the Climate Change Statement. The companies collectively represent half of NZ’s gross emissions, 25 per cent of private sector Gross Domestic Product and Employ over 130,000 people.

Transport emissions are a key target for the Coalition, representing 18 per cent of NZ’s emissions. Here are five ways member companies are greening their fleets.

An EV rideshare trial is about half way through its year’s “test and learn” on Auckland’s North Shore.

So EVtalk’s Sophia Wang tried Auckland Transport’s AT Local service in the lower Devonport peninsula which aims to reduce congestion for those travelling to and from the area’s three ferry terminals.

Public transport in Auckland looks set to hit an all-time of 100 million passengers this year. Patrick Reynolds looks back at how we got here and what next to expect for the future of transport.