News

ANALYSIS: No-one is better at pointing out environmental failings than the media.

New Zealand’s newspapers, TV and radio stations have highlighted some of the most shocking environmental scandals to hit our country, from dirty dairy farming and plastic water-bottling to polluting wine producers and illegal dumping.

Stuff is introducing the country’s carbon level readings to its daily weather report.

The daily readings feature on the weather page in all of Stuff’s metropolitan and regional newspapers from today, making Stuff the first New Zealand media organisation to regularly provide such information to readers.

Enviro-Mark Solutions has announced the winners of its 2019 Awards, which recognise organisations that have achieved outstanding reductions in carbon emissions in recent years using the carboNZeroCertTM and CEMARS® programmes, as well as exceptional environmental performance through the Enviro-Mark® programme.

The winning organisations from the major award categories have each reduced their carbon footprint by at least 30% on their base year figures, with two organisations reducing their carbon footprint by more than 75% compared to base year.

Thousands of dairy farmers will soon be given an accurate picture of their farm’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In a New Zealand first, Fonterra will provide a unique emissions profile to each of its farmers from next spring.

The profile will help farmers understand the sources of greenhouse gas emissions on their farms and what action can be taken to cut them.

Last week we asked New Zealand CEOs whether greed is still good. In the second part of our series on the ethics of NZ businesses, we put them on the spot over whether short term profits trump long term environmental impacts.

Last month Eastland Group and Eastland Community Trust signed up to the Climate Leaders Coalition agreement to tackle climate change by reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. Andrew Ashton delves deeper into how that will be achieved and how it will put Tairawhiti at the tip of the spear in the fight against climate change.

We’re seeing more and more corporations, companies and councils developing environmental strategies to combat climate change, now iwi are jumping aboard. At Ngāi Tahu’s inaugural climate change symposium issues like coastal erosion, marae resilience, mahinga kai and wai were topics of discussion. Hania Douglas reports.

Ports of Auckland has signed a contract with Dutch company Damen Shipyards to take delivery of the world’s first full-size, fully electric port tug in 2021 as part of its zero emissions policy.

The new tug, a Damen RSD-E Tug 2513 will have a 70 tonne pulling power, the same as the port’s strongest diesel tug, Hauraki, also built by Damen. It will cost about $18 million.

Businesses in our ‘clean green Aotearoa’ are becoming more responsible for the waste they emit as much as consumers are. From the new movement of the conscious individual came a need for our businesses to cater to that. Yet reducing waste and becoming more environmentally conscious is not an easy task for already solid businesses. Here, five industry experts give their insights and advice on how businesses can pivot towards a more sustainable outlook.

Waste Management, which operates its rubbish collection and recycling services in 19 centres in New Zealand, plans to convert all its 850 trucks to electric.

Sam Donaldson, Waste Management’s senior project engineer, told the National Road Carriers’ Future of Freight forum in Auckland the company now has eight EV trucks on the road, with two more in the process of being converted. It is planning to have 15 trucks and 100 light vehicles converted to electric by the end of the year.

Most people would have no idea that the anaesthetic gases released by just one hospital annually in New Zealand has the carbon footprint of 500 return flights between Auckland and London.