Our response to climate change
As a major supplier and retailer of electricity in New Zealand, Genesis Energy is very conscious of the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, and we know that we play a key role in helping New Zealand meet its climate change objectives.
Addressing climate change is an integral part of our approach to sustainability and targets to respond to climate change are an essential component of our sustainability objectives. This ensures that we consider it in all our business decisions.
Genesis Energy's major carbon dioxide ("CO2") emissions come from our generation at Huntly Power Station, New Zealand's largest thermal (coal and gas burning) power station. We recognise that although Huntly emits the most CO2 in our business, every aspect of our operations create greenhouse gas emissions, from the vehicles our staff use to travel between sites to waste management practices in our offices.
Our big challenge and what our whole team works towards every day is how we can best balance our impact on the environment with the country's increasing demand for energy. We need to make sure that New Zealand has a secure supply of energy and that at the same time, our resources are managed in a sustainable way.
It's everyone's challenge to reduce global warming. For Genesis Energy, as New Zealand's largest electricity retailer, the challenge is particularly great. We are going to make a positive difference and the good news is, we've already started.
- Each year we measure our emissions and have a target to offset our non-generation CO2e emissions that we have not reduced.
- Energy audits have been conduced across all our sites and actions such as de-lamping office sites and resetting thermostats on heaters have been undertaken to reduce energy consumption. Each year we calculate our energy consumption for our office sites in order to benchmark against the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s low-usage benchmark.
- Our target is to reduce waste to landfill across all our sites, but we have a complex business which deals with a range of waste streams. We have been successful in reducing waste to landfill in some areas and we have been increasing the amount of materials that we recycle or reuse.
- Each year we measure the consumption of paper as a measurement of impact across our office sites. We use 100% recycled content or Forest Stewardship Certified office paper and when Genesis Energy considers any building or refurbishment, we take consideration of green build principles; for example using forest stewardship certified timber, zero volatile organic compound adhesives and Resene green paints in all refurbishments.
