Climate Leaders Coalition release first anniversary snapshot

The Climate Leaders Coalition is marking its first anniversary with the release of an anniversary snapshot report detailing its progress and the launch of a second higher ambition pledge.

"We created an anniversary snapshot because we recognise there’s interest in our achievements beyond the growth in the number of our signatories. Together our 109 signatories now represent 60% of New Zealand’s gross emissions," Coalition convenor and CEO of Z Energy Mike Bennetts says.

"Our snapshot shows that collectively in delivering against the commitment we signed up to, 90% of us are measuring our emissions, 71% are publicly reporting them, more than half have set a public emissions reduction target, and 60% are working with suppliers to reduce their emissions."

Mr Bennetts says 24 signatories also reported reducing their emissions over the past year to a level equivalent with taking 264,000 cars off the road.

To show the Coalition is serious about tackling climate change, it has also released a second pledge to reflect the latest science that illustrates the need to limit global warming to 1.5C and align with the Government’s ambitions in the Zero Carbon Bill.

SkyCity Entertainment Group CEO, Graeme Stephens, was one of a handful of signatory leaders who worked together to update the joint statement.

"As stated in the IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5C, by lowering our target half a degree from 2C to 1.5C, we can significantly decrease the impact of climate change."

"The Coalition’s new pledge shows that we are ambitious about reducing emissions with the intention of educating our people, suppliers, customers and the wider public along the way. From small businesses to large, every action on climate change counts and collectively our actions can be mighty," Mr Stephens says.

The Coalition hopes to transition new and existing signatories to this more ambitious pledge over the coming year.

The Coalition will launch the anniversary snapshot and new pledge at an event at SkyCity this afternoon which the Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change are both attending. The Sky Tower will also be lit green to celebrate the Coalition’s first anniversary.

Background

The Climate Leaders Coalition was launched in July 2018 with 60 original signatories to create a movement of business action on climate change. Signatories account of 60% of New Zealand’s gross emissions, employ more than 170,000 people, and represents nearly one third of private sector GDP.

A big part of the Coalition’s work in its first year has been about demonstrating leadership to help businesses make faster progress on reducing their emissions. Coalition signatories have done this via sharing case studies, hosting workshops and piloting an innovation workstream called Climate-X to help New Zealand meet its zero carbon ambitions.

A copy of the anniversary snapshot is available here.

A copy of the new pledge is available on page 14 of the snapshot.

More information on the Climate Leaders Coalition is available at www.climateleaderscoalition.org.nz

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