What the Regional Council is doing

What we are doing in our own offices

We know we need to walk the talk and be the leading organisation in getting to zero carbon, to bring our contractors, other councils and partners along with us on the journey in Hawke’s Bay.

We’re reviewing our greenhouse gas footprint, with the end goal of being carbon neutral by 2025, and are working towards implementing an accredited management system known as Toitū.

We have a comprehensive sustainability program across the Council.

Corporate transport

• We have an EV first policy and now have seven EVs with five plug-in hybrids, one full EV, and one electric motorbike. We’ve also got two e-bikes for staff to use to get to meetings
• We encourage staff to use video meetings instead of travelling. Where travelling is necessary it is offset with the AirNZ fly neutral programme which invests in local and pacific off-setting initiatives
• We run safe driving campaigns and also monitor driver behaviour and speed - both of these have an effect on fuel use
• All our vehicles are fitted with long-life tyres (60,000 km) to reduce waste. Monthly inflation checks help us to reduce wear and tear, and fuel use

Energy

• We’re going through our buildings and replacing lighting with LED lights
• Our air conditioning is regulated by a sensor that tells it to only work on demand
• All new computer monitors are energy efficient models
• We monitor for spikes in energy use and conduct regular maintenance to avoid waste or inefficiency

Waste

• We have a glass milk bottle service that takes around 1,000 2L plastic bottles out of use annually
• Our recycling service and worm farm reduces waste going to landfill
• We buy second-hand furniture, or buy furniture with recycled content, including carpet where we can
• We use a refill service for kitchen supplies to reduce plastic bottles going to waste (dishwash liquid and powder, sanitiser spray)
• We've reduced paper towel/napkin use by introducing washable reusable towels
• We use carbon neutral, sustainably-sourced paper and the majority of our council agenda 'papers' have gone digital
• We provide staff with a ‘Sustainable Corner’ where we re-purpose loose containers, bottles, and keep-cups for staff to use to reduce the use of single use plastic
• We recycle and dispose of redundant IT equipment through e-waste providers

Reduction in carbon emissions at our Dalton Street offices

Despite a significant increase in the number of staff over this period, you can see from this graph we have managed to reduce our carbon emissions quite substantially over the last 6 years.