Sustainable business practice
What we are seeking to achieve and why
The Department is a key contributor to the Government's initiatives for a sustainable New Zealand. Its natural heritage work mitigates carbon emissions for all New Zealanders, and the Department is taking the lead on adopting sustainable business practices for its own operations.
In 2007-2008, the Department's sustainable development programme had the following three components:
- Six government departments, including the Department of Conservation, were directed by the Prime Minister in February 2007 to achieve carbon neutral status by 2012. The challenge is to reduce the Department's carbon footprint without sacrificing its level of service delivery.
-
Sustainable procurement involves having sustainability elements integrated into government purchases of goods and services. The Ministry of Economic Development has developed mandatory standards and associated guidelines for a range of products.
- The Department is a member of the Govt3 programme, which commits it to measuring its annual performance against eight sustainability indicators. Challenges in 2007-2008 included rolling out a recycling system at head office and developing a head office workplace travel plan.
These components help the Department move towards sustainable business practices to reduce its use of resources and the overall environmental impact of its conservation management activities. In many cases, sustainable business practices also reduce the cost of operations, freeing up resources for further conservation work. As part of its role as a leader in sustainable business practices the Department has adopted further measures to reduce its carbon and ecological footprint.
What we did to achieve this
Carbon neutrality
A detailed inventory of the Department's emissions for 2006-2007 was prepared, which identified total emissions of 8135 tonnes CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents) from transport, energy use and waste to landfill (this is a corrected figure for 2006-2007 from the reported 9561 tonnes due to identification of errors in the 2006-2007 data). The 2006-2007 year is the baseline year against which progress in emissions reduction will be measured.
The inventory for the 2007-2008 year identified total emissions of 8789 tonnes CO2e. The increase is mainly due to the Department bringing all helicopter emissions into the carbon neutral programme (both helicopters hired directly by departmental staff and those hired by contractors completing contracts on behalf of the Department).
Transport is the largest source of emissions for the Department. Vehicle transport accounts for 54% of the emissions, air travel is 10%, while helicopter and fixed wing use accounts for a further 25% of emissions. The Department's emissions for the 2007-2008 year are shown in Figure 4.
A Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan 2008-2012 was prepared, which commits the Department to reducing its emissions by 15% by 2012 from the 2006-2007 baseline. The plan identifies key actions to reduce the carbon footprint from transport and energy use.
Actions taken so far to reduce the Department's carbon footprint are:
- A workplace travel plan for head office was prepared. Its measures aim to reduce the head office travel footprint by 15% by 2012.
- A building guide was developed to encourage adoption of sustainable principles in new and retrofitted offices.
- A partnership was entered into with Meridian Energy subsidiary, Right House Ltd. Right House will provide specialist advice on energy- and water-efficient products and services, including small-scale off-grid renewable power generation for the Department's buildings, houses, huts and remote sites.
- An ongoing programme has been put in place to buy more fuel-efficient, lower emission vehicles.
- 200 webcams were distributed to encourage staff to avoid air and vehicle use to attend meetings.
- 228 water- and energy-efficient shower heads, 88 hot water cylinder wraps and more than 3500 compact fluorescent light bulbs were installed in offices and accommodation.
- Energy audits of 20 offices were carried out.
Figure 4: Department of Conservation CO2e emsiions 2007-2008 (tonnes)
(view larger, JPG, 40K)
Emissions that cannot be avoided will be offset by re-afforestation and pest control on public conservation land. The Department has identified five areas suitable for revegetation of indigenous forest cover to establish and enhance forest carbon sinks. This will involve planting and enabling natural regeneration (particularly through the control of introduced wild animal herbivores). The Ministry for the Environment has evaluated these sites and is funding the projects to help offset the emissions of the first six agencies in the carbon neutral public service programme.
The Department monitors a number of indicators as part of the carbon neutral public service programme, as outlined in Table 5.
Sustainable procurement
The Department made a number of changes to its purchasing requirements to ensure it meets the mandatory sustainable procurement standards issued by the Ministry of Economic Development. Actions taken in 2007-2008 include providing guidance to staff to:
- purchase either New Zealand plantation timber or overseas timber with Forest Stewardship Council or equivalent certification
- purchase, lease or hire vehicles with a minimum emission standard of at least Euro IV (or equivalent) and four stars in the Australian new car assessment programme
- progressively upgrade lighting with new generation replacements to improve performance and increase efficiency - this includes new buildings, refits of existing buildings and when moving into new premises
- purchase recycled copier paper
- purchase a range of eco-friendly office supplies.
The Department's standard contracts and tenders have been revised to incorporate sustainability requirements. Clauses have been inserted requiring:
- responses to tenders to include statements about the submitter's sustainability provisions
- sustainability to be an evaluation criteria, weighted appropriately, depending on the particular circumstances of the services required
- the preparation of a sustainability business plan if required by the Director-General
- best endeavours by contractors to conduct the services on a sustainable basis, including the use and disposal of eco-friendly products
- provision of data to allow the Department to calculate carbon emissions arising from the work undertaken if it uses mechanical equipment, vehicles and aircraft.
Govt3
In relation to Govt3, the Department:
- completed work begun in 2006-2007 to collect the survey data for the eight sustainability indicators36 - these indicators are being amended to complement the carbon neutral public service indicators
- undertook a waste audit of head office, which identified that waste-to-landfill had fallen from 32 kg per year in 2006-2007 to 25 kg per year in 2007-2008.
The Govt3 survey and emissions data (carbon footprint) requirements have been incorporated into the Department's reporting system to enable each conservancy and area office to monitor its carbon footprint and track the effectiveness of its greenhouse gas reduction measures.
The focus for 2008-2009 will be to continue implementing the measures in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan 2008-2012. This includes installing renewable energy sources on suitable off-grid sites to reduce dependence on diesel generation for electricity, and implementing building energy audit recommendations. In addition, the Department will adopt mandatory sustainability procurement standards issued by the Ministry of Economic Development.
Measuring sustainable business practices
The Department monitored a number of sustainability indicators to assess the overall environmental impact of its conservation management activities, shown in Table 5. These indicators are drawn from the carbon neutral public service programme and Govt3. Explanations for various components of the table are provided below. The data is subject to final external verification at time of publication of this annual report.
Table 5: Sustainability indicators monitored by the Department of Conservation
|
Sustainability indicators
|
2005-2006 CO2e (tonnes)
|
2006-2007 CO2e (tonnes)
|
2007-2008 CO2e (tonnes)
|
|
Petrol - vehicles, boats and plant
|
1185
|
1320
|
1309
|
|
Diesel - vehicles, boats and plant
|
2833
|
2782
|
3469
|
|
Domestic air travel
|
1089
|
932
|
740
|
|
1International (short haul <3700km) flights
|
216
|
197
|
26
|
|
1International (long haul > 3700km) flights
|
181
|
|
2Jet A1 helicopter
|
1770
|
1583
|
2087
|
|
2Aviation gas, fixed wing
|
87
|
|
Biomass/wood use
|
Not measured
|
54
|
Not measured
|
|
Fuel oil (heating)
|
Not measured
|
152
|
81
|
|
Coal (heating)
|
Not measured
|
37
|
35
|
|
LPG (bottled)
|
Not measured
|
8
|
12
|
|
3Electricity
|
1420
|
931
|
741
|
|
Taxi
|
25
|
34
|
21
|
|
4Rental cars
|
77
|
104
|
-
|
|
Waste to landfill from head office over 5 working days
|
|
0.032
|
0.025
|
|
TOTAL CO2e tonnes
|
8615
|
8135
|
8789
|
|
Office paper
|
|
19,680 reams
|
17,174 reams
|
|
Full-time employee equivalents
|
2000
|
2018
|
2003
|
Notes:
- Short and long haul flights are separated out from 2007-2008.
- Aviation gas is separated out from Jet A1 fuel from 2007-2008.
- Electricity errors corrected - 2006-2007 data reporting 1004 tonnes CO2e was incorrect.
- Rental cars incorporated into petrol and diesel emissions from 2007-2008.
Fuel consumption
The Department relies extensively on vehicles and boats to undertake its business activities across New Zealand, often in remote locations. The existing fleet of 667 vehicles is made up of 75% diesel-powered vehicles and 25% petrol-fuelled vehicles.
Air travel
Department staff travel for many reasons as part of their work - to consult stakeholders, visit workplaces and sites, attend meetings and participate in workshops and conferences. Departmental staff have focused on reducing domestic travel by increasing use of audio-conferencing and webcams.
Helicopter/fixed wing
Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft are used for a number of purposes, including pest control, transporting materials to build huts, tracks and shelters, removing human waste, rescuing stranded trampers and to fight fires. The increase in helicopter emissions in 2007-2008 in comparison to the 2006-2007 baseline data is because:
- The correction of errors in the 2006-2007 baseline data reduced emissions from helicopters in that year.
- All helicopter use during 2007-2008 has been captured. In the previous two years, emission reporting excluded helicopters hired by contractors completing contracts on behalf of the Department.
Office paper
During 2007-2008, a total of 17,174 reams of A4 copy paper were purchased from the Department's national supplier. In November 2007, the Department switched to using 80% recycled copier paper - 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.
Energy consumption
The total electricity consumed in Department of Conservation staff buildings in 2007-2008 was 4,357,873 kWh. This is a small reduction in electricity use compared to the 2006-2007 corrected baseline figure of 4,453,920 kWh.
Footnote
36 The eight sustainability indicators are: Energy use in buildings; energy use for domestic land transport; energy use for domestic and international air travel; waste - tonnes to landfill
and tonnes recycled; paper use - reams of copier paper used; staff numbers (full-time equivalent); tenders and contracts - whether standard text includes sustainable practice clauses; and progress on achieving targets in an organisation's sustainable practice action
plan.
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