Emissions pledge: 60 chief executives sign
individual customers and their connection with these individual companies,’’ Bennetts said.
Z Energy has committed to reducing its emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 for its internal operations.
Bennetts said Z Energy sold 9.3 million tonnes of carbon to its customers but was also looking to reduce New Zealanders’ reliance on fossil fuels.
‘‘[It] sounds weird because we’re incentivising people to buy less of our products, but that’s what these public commitments enable us to do.’’
The chief operations officer for Fonterra’s global operations, Robert Spurway, said the dairy giant had also pledged to a 30 per cent reduction, but by 2030 from a 2015 baseline.
‘‘At the moment there is no legal requirement for businesses to complete emission reporting. The Government is looking at this over time, as part of New Zealand’s commitment to climate change, but this accelerates that,’’ Spurway said.
‘‘It gives businesses that opportunity to lead through commitment ... to report on an annual basis. It’s a step in the right direction.’’
Professor James Renwick, of the Victoria University school of geography, environment and earth sciences, said it was good news for climate change action.
‘‘This coalition, comprising almost half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and including some very prominent businesses such as Fonterra and Air New Zealand, has the potential to make a significant difference,’’ Renwick said. Z Energy chief executive Mike Bennetts, above
‘‘We will have to wait and see what actions the members of the CLC actually take, but the stated aim of reducing emissions to meet Paris Agreement limits is excellent.
‘‘The CLC group is responsible for a sizeable fraction of the country’s emissions of carbon dioxide, from transport, energy production, and industrial use of fossil fuels. These are the sectors where emissions growth has been fastest in the past two decades, so it’s exciting to see businesses tacking emissions in this area.’’
Renwick said, to combat climate change, a new industrial revolution was needed, switching business and society to different energy sources.
‘‘Failure to step up will indeed put our competitiveness at risk, and ultimately would seriously damage the livelihoods of millions of people around the world.
‘‘This is an opportunity for New Zealand to show the world how to make the transition to a zero-carbon future.’’
Professor Tim Naish, an Antarctic Research Centre climate scientist, said it was significant that the aviation, dairy and petroleum sectors were signatories.
‘‘But just as it applies to governments that pledged in Paris, good intentions must translate into action, and time is short,’’ Naish said.
‘‘Agreeing to measure and report their emissions is a strong move. It is important they commit to ambitious targets in the first five years. The science shows us that collectively if we leave it much longer this will require negative emissions and a technological solution.’’
‘‘[It] sounds weird because we’re incentivising people to buy less of our products, but that’s what these public commitments enable us to do.’’