Less talk, more climate action

Phil Jones presents some simple steps business owners can take right now to get their business on the pathway to climate action.

The lockdowns imposed around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in a dramatic drop in global carbon emissions. While that has highlighted that emissions can be cut hard and cut fast we don’t want to go to the wall in the process. 

The good news is that there are far more sustainable ways for businesses to take climate action. That action needs to be taken urgently if we are to stand any chance of meeting our international commitments, and our goal to become a zero carbon economy by 2050.

The Sustainable Business Network recently launched its Climate Action 20/25 project. It is a five-year programme making it easy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take action to reduce their carbon emissions and become climate resilient. It will provide a toolkit of practical resources (due for release in August 2020), inspiring case studies and integrated training and support programmes.

The Climate Action 20/25 toolkit and support are being designed to enable any SME to get involved and then move along the ‘climate action pathway’. They will encourage SMEs to reduce their carbon emissions in line with what the science says is required to maintain a stable climate (warming of under 1.5°C). 

The work is designed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the key opportunity areas of stationary energy, transport and waste.

So what can you do right now?

The first step

Your pathway to climate action begins with the motivation to take the first step, however small. Start by finding out where your emissions are generated throughout your operations and then take action to reduce them. This is where money can be saved.

Changing your organisation’s current transport behaviour is probably the easiest and most impactful action you can take. 

Transport can be broken into two key areas: moving people and moving goods. Let’s start with people. 

One of the big lessons that came out of the lockdown is that flexi-working can be successful. Not all teams need to be onsite all of the time. Working remotely for one or more days means staff are spending less time commuting, therefore reducing their transport emissions. 

With that in mind, you could consider making flexi-working a permanent option.

At the same time, find out how your staff are commuting between home and work and look at ways of influencing them to change to lower-carbon travel. This could include encouraging staff to cycle or walk to work by providing good facilities, like a shower and locker room.

We have co-developed an online workplace cycling guide with the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. The guide provides tips and inspiration for workplaces to encourage cycling as a transport option. It also includes the employer e-bike purchase support guide¹ which is a proven way for employers to help by supporting their people to buy e-bikes for commuting. 

E-bikes provide impressive savings in fuel costs and carbon emissions. For example, annual savings for a single e-bike commuter, based on replacing a twice daily 12km car commute, are estimated at $900 and nearly one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.

You could encourage your staff to use carpool or rideshare services or provide them with free or subsidised passes for public transport. If you’re moving premises, shift your business close to good public transport facilities or cycleways.

The lockdown also helped many of us to realise that we can make some big changes to business travel. In just a few weeks it proved we could keep the wheels of commerce turning without meeting face to face every time. Teleconferencing has now come of age and provides a much lower carbon and cheaper option to driving or flying. 

Now may also be a good time to review your fleet of company vehicles. Consider whether a proportion of your pool car fleet could be replaced with a car share service like Cityhop, Zilch and Mevo that offer zero- or low-emission vehicles that you can rent on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. 

Assess how many of your fleet vehicles could be electric. There are now more than 20,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in New Zealand. Typically an EV reduces carbon emissions by about 80 percent compared to an equivalent conventional car. That reduction comes in at 60 percent when considering the whole-of-life emissions, which includes manufacturing.

On average we drive our cars 11,500km a year. Based on this figure, annual savings for an EV compared to a conventional car are estimated at about $1,750 in fuel costs and about 2.4 tonnes in carbon emissions.  

Moving goods

When it comes to transporting goods, look at options to reduce your carbon miles and shorten your supply chain by using local suppliers and appealing to customers closer to home. The electrification of larger vehicles is coming and will also help make a difference.

Once you’ve explored your options for cutting your transport emissions you can then shift your focus to other areas like waste or energy, particularly if you’re using heating processes fueled by coal, diesel or gas.

The next step is to set reduction targets and a simple monitoring system. At some point you might consider getting your climate action verified or even certified.   

To find out more about the pathway to climate action see SBN’s Climate Action 20/25 programme.

¹ https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cycling-and-public-transport/cycling/workplace-cycling-guide/resources/employer-e-bike-purchase-support-schemes/