60 company chiefs step up on climate
Coalition of leading Kiwi bosses will work to keep greenhouse gas emissions down
Bosses of 60 companies that make up nearly half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions have pledged to take a fresh stand on climate change. The newly formed Climate Leaders Coalition brings together a range of business heavyweights, including Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Z Energy, Contact Energy, Westpac, Spark, KiwiRail, Sanford, The Warehouse Group, Nga¯i Tahu Holdings, Vector and Ports of Auckland.
Another in the group, SkyCity, will tonight light Auckland’s Sky Tower in green to mark the new alliance.
By joining the coalition, each of the chief executives commits to measuring and reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and working with suppliers to keep levels down.
The overall aim is to help keep future global warming within 2C — the key goal of the Paris Agreement, under which New Zealand has already pledged to slash emissions by 11 per cent below 1990 levels.
Further, the leaders backed the Climate Change Commission now being established and the creation of law-enshrined carbon budgets.
Carbon budgeting is a proposed part of the Government’s Zero Carbon Bill, which aspires to drive emissions of CO2 — and potentially other greenhouse gases — down to zero by the middle of the century.
The chief executives behind the new pledge saw climate change as an opportunity to innovate and access new markets, with many already overseeing projects under way.
The group’s convenor, Z Energy chief executive Mike Bennetts, said he knew many companies were making their own progress on transitioning to a low-emissions future.
“But that still left a gap around what we could be doing more of together to increase the pace and scale of impact from our collective efforts,” he said. “So, it made sense to discuss those opportunities and commit to further action.”
Livia Esterhazy, the NZ chief executive of conservation group WWF, said her group was “incredible excited” by the stand.
“Globally, it’s unprecedented for businesses representing almost half of a country’s emissions to come together like this.”
Victoria University climate scientist Professor James Renwick said while it remained to be seen what efforts the coalition would make, its stated aim was “excellent”.
Renwick noted those in the group included companies involved in 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,” he said.
“Combined with the recent announcement from the Farming Leaders Group that the agriculture sector is committed to zero carbon emissions by 2050, there’s a real sense that attitudes across the business sector are changing, and fast.” SkyCity will mark the formation of the Climate Leaders Coalition by lighting Auckland’s Sky Tower in green.