Audit of Emissions Inventory confirms our lowest emissions to date

The environment in New Zealand is changing, and we are already seeing the impacts of climate change. Wildfires are occurring earlier during the warmer months, and an increasing number of extreme weather events are causing flooding and storm damage. These events are expected to become more common and more damaging with rising temperatures.

Toitū Envirocare has completed its audit of Fire and Emergency’s Emissions Inventory, with our overall emissions at the lowest point since reporting began in 2018/19. This year’s data was complex to analyse as four new emissions sources were added: plant and equipment hire, freight, working from home and commuting.

These sources have not been part of our data previously, but work is underway to include them in our previous emissions inventories. Work is also underway to ensure that other indirect and harder-to-measure emission sources (such as building construction) are included where appropriate, which could see our emission profile change.

Encouragingly, a 19.5% reduction from our baseline year in 2018/19 means that we have nearly met the reduction target for 2025 of a 21% total reduction. This 19.5% reduction over three years is the equivalent of approximately 1.4 hectares of New Zealand pine forest absorbing CO₂ over its first 40 years of growth.  As many of the easy reductions have already been made, a lot of work will be required to meet the 2030 reduction target of 42%. 

We have a responsibility to protect the environment now and into the future, and this extends to reducing our impacts on the climate. Fire and Emergency is part of the Carbon Neutral Government Programme, which requires us to report on our climate emissions and work to reduce them. As we are on the front line responding to events affected or caused by climate change, it is important for us to be leaders in this mahi. Our environmental sustainability efforts have been recognised after being named as a finalist at the recent Toitū Brighter Future Awards. We were one of five finalists for Climate Action (biggest reduction) in the Large Organisation category.

Our Climate Response Strategy helps set a roadmap for us to achieve this. It was released in October and can be read here(external link).

Completing this audit means that Fire and Emergency has been recertified under the Toitū carbonreduce programme for the fourth year in a row. Being carbonreduce certified means we are actively working to measure and manage our carbon footprint and demonstrate our commitment to address the impacts of climate change.