News

New Zealand’s leading general insurer, IAG, has praised the introduction of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill to Parliament today as a milestone, as the country grapples with the issue of adapting to the consequences of climate change.

KiwiRail has welcomed today’s Zero Carbon Bill announcement, and is ready to play its part in reducing New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“As a company we are committed to helping New Zealand move to a low-emissions future and meet the reduction targets,” says Group Chief Executive Greg Miller.

Toyota New Zealand welcomed today’s introduction of the Zero Carbon Bill to Parliament as an urgently-needed piece of legislation to address climate change. As an original signatory to the Climate Leaders Coalition and long-time member of the Sustainable Business Council (SBC), Toyota NZ is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable business development.

Chief Executive Malcolm Johns says the airport company recognises the Paris agreement and supports establishing an independent Climate Change commission and targets enshrined in law.

Synlait (NZX: SML; ASX: SM1) applauds the government’s bold Zero Carbon Bill announcement today, including new methane targets.
These targets are aligned with Synlait’s commitment to sustainability announced in June 2018. Synlait has committed to achieve on-farm reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 35% per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS) by 2028, including a reduction of methane by 30%.

Air New Zealand is urging more passengers to join the war on climate change as its Fly Neutral voluntary carbon offset scheme passed the $NZ1 million milestone. The Kiwi carrier offsets staff travel and since late 2016 has allowed passengers to tick a box to offset the carbon emissions associated with their flight.

Increasing pressure on firms globally to reduce emissions throughout their supply chain is a genuine opportunity for New Zealand, Contact Energy says.

Chief generation and development officer James Kilty says there has always been a level of interest from firms overseas keen on seeing whether they could establish businesses here to take advantage of the country’s geothermal energy and its high – and growing – share of renewable electricity.

More and more businesses are considering going down the road of electric vehicles. While it’s a good way to show business leadership on climate change, reduce emissions, and help create the critical mass of demand necessary to truly launch the EV market in New Zealand, it’s not quite as simple as replacing your company fleet with EVs and installing a few plugs. Here, some of New Zealand’s biggest corporates and members of the Climate Leaders Coalition, such as Meridian, Spark, Orion and Westpac, share what they’ve learnt when it comes to transitioning their corporate fleets into EVs.

Tawa residents will now be able to see New Zealand Post’s new electric delivery vehicles in operation as driver training has started. NZ Post has worked closely with the Wellington City Council to gain approval to operate the Paxster electric delivery vehicles on a 12 month trial. The rollout of these vehicles around the country started in 2017, and the vehicles have now arrived in Tawa.

Dairy giant Fonterra believes its latest initiative to cut carbon emissions could make the difference of the equivalent of taking 18,500 cars off the road. The co-operative’s Te Awamutu site has just completed a trial to run its existing coal boiler exclusively on wood pellets.

“With employees and board members becoming increasingly aware of climate risks and motivated to protect the environment, measurement of carbon emissions will soon be a standard practice for New Zealand businesses.” Rob Campbell tells the National Business Review why SKYCITY Entertainment Group and Summerset Group Holdings Limited are measuring their carbon footprint with Enviro-Mark Solutions Limited (Subscription access).