Managing firms’ carbon footprints

| Sourced From |

Supermarkets worried about delivering on consumers’ environmentally aware buying choices have had more impact on New Zealand exporters measuring and reporting on their carbon footprint than the Emissions Trading Scheme, says Landcare Research’s carboNZero programme business manager, Mike Tournier.

Mr Tournier says 67 per cent of New Zealand’s exports are sourced either from primary produce or agriculture with much destined for retailers in markets that are demanding carbon footprint information.

“New Zealand’s top five export markets – Australia, the United States, China, Japan and Britain – are asking suppliers to report their product and organisational carbon footprints.”

The 2009 Sustainable 60 award-winning carboNZero’s certification programme is the world’s first ISO standard internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification scheme, recognised in at least 50 markets.

The 2010 Fairfax Media-Shape NZ survey on sustainable business practice shows formal reporting on sustainability measures is now being conducted by just over half of corporate executives with the most spending power.

Survey results show 51 per cent of respondents who approve purchases exceeding $100,000 are well into or planning on measuring carbon footprint and managing emissions, while 53 per cent have developed a plan (or are in the process of doing so) to actually reduce those emissions.

Reporting on sustainable performance is highest in the finance and insurance industries (44 per cent), government administration and defence (39 per cent), agriculture, forestry and fishery, and transport and storage (31 per cent).

With export markets asking for sustainability reports and, in some cases, scoring processes among competing suppliers, New Zealand companies simply cannot afford the brand and image risk of not reporting or incorrectly reporting sustainability data to these important stakeholders, Mr Tournier says.

But reporting still seems to be less of a priority than doing with many Kiwi companies – only 17 per cent of decision-makers document and report their sustainable performance despite 76 per cent of them supporting these practices.

Clive Lindley, managing director of Auckland-based Revolution ID, which provides web-based carbon footprint management software, says smaller companies may be reluctant to report on their performance because they lack the experience and the expertise.

Completing sustainability reports can be “complex, time-consuming and expensive”, Mr Lindley says.
Ad Feedback

“If you don’t publish a report it is not good to all stakeholders. If you do, it might not be very detailed at first but the point is you’ve made a start.

“The thing with sustainability reporting is it tends to get better and better each year as skills and expertise are developed within the organisation.”

Posted on August 20, 2010 · in Australasia

Tagged as: Carbon Emissions • Carbon Footprint • Carbon Trading