News

Foodstuffs is building the country's largest solar panel farm to power its new North Island distribution centre. The distribution centre, which will serve all Pak 'n Save, New World and Four Square supermarkets in the North Island, will include the equivalent of 14 netball courts of solar panels. The building is currently under construction near Auckland International Airport.

Westpac NZ and Contact Energy have entered into a $50 million, four-year sustainability-linked loan facility, the first such loan issued by Westpac NZ and one of the first of its kind in New Zealand. Contact Energy will receive a discounted interest rate on the sustainability-linked loan if it meets ambitious targets linked to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating determined by the independent ratings agency RobecoSAM. Conversely, Contact will pay higher interest costs if it doesn’t meet the rating targets agreed with Westpac.

Creative solutions will be needed to reduce the carbon footprint of the New Zealand tourism sector by 2050, says thinkstep-anz following a comprehensive study done for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Tourism was responsible for 9% of New Zealand’s national emissions in 2017, and we outsource a further 6% of our domestic emissions to the world through the international flights taken to get here and in the production of the goods and services that tourists purchase while in New Zealand.

Over the last two months, a team of contractors and SkyCity staff have been busy changing the external lightbulbs on the Sky Tower to LED, supporting SkyCity’s climate change commitment to reduce carbon emissions from the Sky Towers lighting by 10%. The new LED lights will turn on for the first time this Saturday 21st December, at 9.00pm, with a dynamic light show, all in time with a playlist featuring kiwi hits and festive tunes hosted by the Breeze radio station.

Auckland Council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee Chair Richard Hills has welcomed Mayor Phil Goff’s proposal for the 2020-21 Annual Budget as an important step forward for the climate. “I thank the Mayor for working with us and leading the way on climate change on his annual budget proposal. We have heard loud and clear our community wants us to act and to act faster,” says Cr Hills.

High Street is bursting with flowers, strawberries, kawa kawa and mint. For the Love of Bees has planted these, along with a range of other edible and medicinal plants, as part of a trial to create a safer and more accessible High Street that improves the environment for pedestrians and celebrates its unique character.

The world is on the cusp of big change in business, with awareness of the climate and environmental challenges the world is facing at an all-time high. Ecostore director of marketing, digital and sustainability projects Jemma Whiten shares her top tips for creating more sustainable businesses and brands.

Through life cycle assessment, Tork has found composting hand towels with commercial composters instead of disposing in landfill reduces greenhouse gas emissions by around 50 percent. Life cycle assessment was completed by thinkstep-anz as part of new Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on a number of Tork products. Each EPD outlines the Global Warming Potential (carbon footprint), which quantifies the potential of greenhouse gases – such as carbon dioxide and methane – to increase absorption of heat reaching Earth’s atmosphere, intensifying the natural greenhouse effect.

Using engineered timber instead of concrete and steel on commercial buildings may not be a lot more expensive, big construction firm Naylor Love says New Zealand's largest private construction firm with 700 staff and $600 million turnover, Naylor Love has developed a calculator that quantifies the amount of carbon in building structures using different materials.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is walking its talk on reducing emissions by becoming a certified carbon zero organisation. EECA has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by a third since 2007, and is now offsetting the difference.