The release of New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan sets new urgency around our country’s transition to a carbon-zero future and means slashing 11.5 million tonnes of carbon equivalent off our emissions by 2025.
The plan reveals how the Government will meet New Zealand’s first emissions budget of 72.4 million tonnes a year and underlines the fact that there is no more time for business as usual when it comes to decarbonisation. And if greenhouse emissions and tonnes of carbon don’t mean a lot to you, picture this; 1 tonne of CO2 would fill 1 large hot air balloon (almost 3,000 cubic metres in volume), and to capture 1 tonne of CO2 emissions, approximately 50 trees must grow for one year. The challenge is real.
Strategic urgency for decarbonisation
During the last 12 months, the conversation has shifted from decarbonisation being a tactical compliance thing for businesses – to having real strategic urgency. As Total Utilities Director, Chris Hargreaves explains, “Addressing carbon is becoming a business problem and not an optional extra.”“Creating a low carbon economy requires considerable planning,” says Chris. “Businesses will need to be adaptable and flexible to meet the Government’s emission budgets and reduction plan and they will need to have a plan to mitigate risks associated with it. “Carbon units will become more expensive over time, increasing the cost of goods and services with high carbon intensity.”
Protect your brand & reputation
The benefits for businesses that address carbon now are huge. Think of the cost savings of needing less energy to run your business and reducing your energy requirements now to mitigate future cost increases.Decarbonisation also means protecting your brand and reputation as more customers turn to sustainable companies.
Furthermore, it gives you a head start in bidding for contracts, with many businesses now asking for details on approaches to sustainability and emission reduction before awarding contracts. And front of centre of it all, of course, is the environmental imperative to reduce emissions. Science tells us we need net zero emissions to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C, and the race to get there by 2050 has started.So why aren’t businesses moving faster?Chris says that clients who come to him for advice know they need to do something but often don’t know what to do or where to start.
Total Utilities can help…
This is where Total Utilities comes in. Having worked in New Zealand’s energy market for well over 20 years, we specialise in assisting companies with the decarbonisation process and putting together carbon reduction plans.“We can help you baseline greenhouse gas emissions from across all your operations, so you know where to start,” says Chris.“We then use science-based methodologies to come up with your pathway towards net zero, ensuring a stakeholder lead approach. We can reduce your business risk by adhering to today’s environmental regulations and preparing you for any future legislation.”
Funding challenges are also often a significant roadblock to businesses taking action, explains Chris, but the benefits of future proofing your business and the cost savings over time help offset this. “Furthermore, we can identify cost savings and revenue opportunitiesthat will have a positive effect on your productivity, profits and performance,” he adds.
A recent Microsoft report on New Zealand’s sustainability performance shows that more than three quarters of NZ businesses now have carbon reduction plans and policies. But that’s where the green wave crashes into a wall – and uncertainty about costs is a major factor.
According to Microsoft’s ‘Accelerating the Journey to Net Zero’ report, two related reasons stand out as to why businesses are failing to meet their targets. One is that businesses are unsure how to monitor their emissions, giving them no clear baseline or way to chart their progress. The other is cost. But as Total Utilities Sustainability Director, David Spratt, argues in a recent Microsoft article outlining the report findings, you have to consider the cost to your business of not transforming and the opportunity to increase market share if you do. While the report found that only 43 percent of NZ organisations have the financial resources needed to execute their carbon reduction policies – that’s assuming they’ve made accurate calculations. It’s hard to make a clear business case and create a roadmap for change without the right facts and figures. There are also significant disparities between sectors when it comes to making these estimates.
Decarbonisation – cost vs value
David points out that businesses need to look past simple upfront investments as many calculations relating to sustainable ‘costs’ ignore the significant efficiency gains that can be made. He referenced a manufacturing customer of Total Utilities who was looking to purchase a new transformer worth $1 million. Yet by placing IoT sensors in its factories to measure the actual demand on the system, Total Utilities demonstrated that significant efficiencies could be made that meant the transformer wasn’t needed. As David observed, implementing a well-researched sustainability plan can actually save on both utilities and capex costs. “We had another client, a construction firm, who put in bids for five major projects. Every single one of their clients wanted to know their sustainability credentials, and when they visited other builders’ websites, those credentials were on the home page. Sustainability, and communicating what actions you’ve taken to achieve this, have become essential to doing business in the sector.” He explains that businesses also have to consider their employer brand, in view of today’s skills shortages. People are looking for employers whose values align with theirs, and in many cases, who are actively demonstrating their progress on sustainability and decarbonisation. “When we talk about investing in sustainability, we’re not just talking about environmental sustainability but business sustainability – your ability to retain staff and customers, and their perception that your business is viable into the future,” says David.
Get with the programme
Another major reason that businesses predict they’ll fail to meet their decarbonisation targets is that they are unsure how to monitor their emissions, giving them no clear baseline or way to chart their progress. At Total Utilities, we have dramatically pivoted our business model over the past few years from supporting businesses to monitor and reduce their utility overheads from gas, water, electricity and cloud consumption – to using that data to measure your carbon footprint and support a sustainable transition. Our evolution reflects the fact that in recent years decarbonisation has moved from something just a few, ‘eco-conscious’ businesses or big emitters have focused on, to being embraced by the majority of NZ businesses. The government’s Climate Change Response Act enshrining the net zero carbon by 2050 target in law, as well as a raft of other legislation and consumer demand, have added further pressure to address climate change. The message to NZ business is clear – get with the programme or get left behind. There’s no doubt achieving net zero carbon will require significant investment and commitment right across the board. But turning New Zealand’s poor performance around relies on rapidly turning the tide on our mindset about cost vs value of decarbonisation.
Need help calculating and reducing your carbon footprint? We’re here to help! Contact us at Total Utilities.
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“If a thousand years were to pass in a second what would be left of us?”
The Dig – Movie
I read somewhere that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is today. Autumn is coming and with the rains will come the opportunity to begin planting out the stream on my property that is so in need of a kind and considerate lover.
It is only five weeks but my efforts to bring my stream back to life have been an inspiration. Not in a, “Gee Dave, you are a great green guy,” kind of way, but with the people I have already met and talked to along the way.
Jim
Jim used to live on my land along with all the land around it. He wasn’t an easy conversationalist, preferring his own company unless it was down at the golf club over a few beers. He was, though, inspiring when we moved out from town eleven years ago.
Inspiring because he always helped but never interfered. Inspiring because he seemed capable of turning his hand to any task.
Most of all he was inspiring because he planted, one by one, the trees, bushes and shrubs that became the beautiful wetland and arboretum (a botanical garden dedicated to trees) that borders my place. My stream, when it’s not bone dry, flows into the wetland on Jim’s arboretum. From there it flows down and on to the Manukau Harbour.
Eels, conversely make their way back up from some mysterious place in the Pacific, into the Manukau and eventually find a safe place in amongst the wetland reeds. If I succeed in making it a safer place, they will continue their journey up my stream as they have done in the past.
Each morning I have my tea and toast on the front deck and look across and up at the established kahikateas and ancient totara that inspired him to protect by surrounding them with plantings from a nursery that was closing down and saplings from surrounding farms.
All I see is how many different colours of green there are. All I hear are the hundreds of birds he protected by sustained pest control programmes.
One time the neighbour clear felled a patch of trees on the land nearby. Possums, destroyers of forests and bush and predators to nesting birdlife, fled across to my place and into Jim’s arboretum. We silently went into competition, killing sixty of them in a two week period. Maybe the neighbour did us a favour – he never controlled pests on his land. Possums have never been a major problem since.
“We sure sorted them,” Jim said over a beer one evening.
‘WE’. Jim never said ‘we’. He was far too stoic to say that.
Jim left without really saying goodbye last year. He never liked a fuss. He sold the property and arboretum to Gary. Rumour has it that developers were eyeing up the land and that Jim rejected their offers despite pressure from the agent.
Gary
Gary had been looking for a spot to build a place for a while. He went over Karaka way and all he saw was bare blocks. “By the time I planted it out and the trees grew I’d be dead.”
He had a look at the arboretum and the land behind it that he could build on . He fell in love and made an offer which Jim rejected as ‘too low.’
“How much?”
“Ask the agent.”
“Too much,” said the agent who didn’t know the value of trees except as firewood.
“How much?” asked Gary.
The agent told him and Gary said yes. It was cheaper than the bare blocks in Karaka and he liked the view.
I spoke to Gary about the stream and my plans for it the other day. He lit up and offered me cuttings from the giant flaxes in the wetland.
“I’ll give you a hand planting them if you like. We can have a beer on the porch after and share the view.” ‘WE’. He said we. He never says ‘we’ except to his mates.
Ken
Ken is a horticulturist, gardener and all round ball of muscle and energy that makes this skinny old guy feel more than a little inadequate when he arrives with his chainsaw, weed wacker and hedge trimmer and smashes through work in a day that would take me a week if my back held out.
We have known each other for a while now and when I showed him my stream project I wasn’t sure if he would be as overawed by the enormity of the task as I am prone to be. He was engaged – no excited about the plan. I felt energised just being around him.
“We could clear five metres back from the stream to make it a bit easier to sort out the planting and fencing plan,” he offered after a bit of thought.
WE. He never says ‘we’ – he is too polite to say that.
A day later the stream bank was cleared, the old man’s beard cut back with the contempt this native forest smothering vine deserves and all the existing native shrubs were upright and free of weeds. Ken was on fire and so was I.
Samuel
Samuel minds my sheep for me. These days there are only six older ewes, all a bit fat from over feeding, beautiful and a bit posh. They are the product of a breeding programme that ended when I tired of lambs bleating all day and night because they were separated from their mum by a seven-strand fence and a wide-open gate.
Samuel treats them with a gentle hand. He even whispers to them– mimicking their low bleating and soothing them when he and his dogs work with them. I’ve never seen them cut, not even a nick, when he shears them. That is more than I can say for the ‘expert’ shearer I hired a decade ago whose heavy-handed brutality saw me shoo him off my property.
“Bloody townie,” he called back, not amused that I had held him responsible for the blood stains on my shell shocked animals. He didn’t hear my reply as he left – neither will you see it in print. I am far too polite for that.
Samuel is also a fencer in the off season. We walked the stream and I shared my hippy vision of plants, fish, frogs and eels. “We can fence off this spring,” he said. “The frogs and fish can breed in there away from the kingfishers. Set a couple of rat and stoat traps and it’ll be ideal.” ‘WE’. He never says ‘we’ – he’s far too shy and solitary for that
Please feel free to contact me, Planet Spratt, at [email protected] if you have any feedback, ideas or suggestions
Or you can make business and media enquiries to Total Utilities here.
