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Central Canterbury electricity distributor, Orion, today announced its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality for corporate emissions by June 2022, the first electricity company in New Zealand to commit to this ambitious target. The commitment is eight years ahead of Christchurch City Council’s goal for council-owned companies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome the Government’s announcement to accelerate the public sector’s race to zero carbon within the next five years. The announcement is the focus of three of the 26 recommendations contained in a recent joint SBC and CLC briefing to the incoming Government on climate action priorities. The briefing is the consensus view of the 150 companies represented by SBC and CLC.

Christchurch Airport in New Zealand has taken a major step forward in its commitment to fight against climate change, becoming the first airport in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world to reach Level 4 Transformation of Airport Carbon Accreditation. This high achievement is evidence of the airport’s continued efforts to align its carbon management strategy with the global climate goals.

Toitū Envirocare’s new Toitū carbon assess platform enables large enterprises to collate and track the combined carbon emissions of their New Zealand-based suppliers and gives small businesses an easy and affordable way to measure their carbon emissions and benchmark against similar organisations.

Suggestions for decarbonsing vehicles, removing fringe benefit tax (FBT) on EVs, subsidising e-bikes and introducing road congestion charges are among 26 actions costing about $7.3 billion the Sustainable Business Council and Climate Leaders Coalition want the incoming government to consider.

In a briefing released today, 150 business leaders are urging the incoming Government to work in partnership with business to build momentum towards achieving New Zealand’s zero carbon goal. The briefing, commissioned by the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC), represents the collective views of their members and signatories on climate action priorities.

A survey of employees at Suncorp New Zealand, one of the country’s largest insurance companies, has revealed that community and connection (79%) and collaboration and problem solving (66%) are the main drivers for employees wanting to return to the office at least part time following a period of working at home due to Covid-19.

Two climate-focused business groups, The CEO-led Climate Leaders' Coalition, and the Sustainable Business Council have got together to share resources, amplify their message and accelerate climate action. Kathryn Ryan talks to Mike Bennetts, Convenor of the Climate Leaders Coalition & CEO of Z Energy and Mike Burrell, Executive Director of the SBC about how it can be done without losing jobs. After the election, the combined group plans to present its prioritised recommendations to the next Government about policies on emissions and investments it would like to see.

The first retirement village operator to be Toitū carbonzero certified, Summerset's climate action story shows the organisation’s commitment to continually reducing their environmental impacts. he retirement village operator started its journey by committing to the Toitū carbonreduce certification programme in 2018. A Toitū carbonreduce certification means Summerset measured their emissions, set a reduction plan, and got third-party verified as per international best-practice. Though this was a great start, it was only the first step. The programme was a way for Summerset to start monitoring its emissions, increase efficiency and reduce operational costs. The certification process helped bring focus to key insights like emissions from the use of fertilisers, waste per person and business travel - all seen as opportunities to be more efficient. Summerset's sustainability initiatives quickly gained traction and the organisation decided to further bolster its commitment by offsetting their carbon emissions, gaining them the Toitū carbonzero certification.

More than 150 New Zealand business leaders have joined forces to collaborate on a collective vision for a sustainable, zero carbon New Zealand. Leading business organisations, the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC), today launched their new strategies with a shared vision bringing more opportunities for them to partner on key climate action initiatives.