Committed to reducing our carbon emissions

Reducing our carbon emissions is an important element of our commitment to our footprint - to maximise positive outcomes for our people and communities, and reduce environmental harm associated with our business operations.

There is an urgent, world-wide need to tackle climate change, and we’re right there alongside our clients, doing everything we can to protect our environment, communities and businesses now and in the future.

How do we plan on achieving this? In addition to developing a sustainability framework underpinned by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Government commitments to the Paris Agreement and regulatory drivers such as Zero Carbon legislation, we have also made a commitment as part of the New Zealand Climate Leaders Coalition where we are one of 60 founding signatories.

The CLC demonstrates our commitment to transitioning to low emissions economies: for the generations after us, for the countries we love and for the viability of our business.

Our carbon emissions reduction target

Using the methodology defined by the Science Based Target Initiative, we’ve committed to reducing our total carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030 from a 2018 baseline; consistent with the need to keep us well below 2 degrees of global heating.

We feel our target is courageous in that we have chosen to include the direct (Scope 1 and 2) and indirect (Scope 3) emissions. 

For emissions where we have direct control, such as our company-owned vehicles, and office energy consumption, we aim to reduce this by 50 percent, to keep within 1.5 degrees of global heating. For emissions where we don’t have direct control, we have set a target of 30 percent, consistent with keeping well below two degrees. These include such aspects as the goods and services we purchase, our use of subconsultants, employee commuting and working from home.

While we have already implemented a range of initiatives that will help us achieve these targets, there’s room to do more. We are continuing to explore new technologies and innovative solutions, and working with our clients, partners and suppliers to progress towards a low carbon future.