Climate Action: Building in-house emissions measurement capability for iwi
28/02/2023 1:32pm
As part of our regular series on climate change, Nelson City Council demonstrates collaboration with iwi of Te Tauihu in action, and shows how these partnerships play an important role in addressing climate change.
Through the Climate Action Plan, Nelson City Council has committed to working with central government, other councils, iwTi, business, scientists and the broader community to maximise collective action to achieve climate change objectives.
Collaboration with iwi is critical to driving sustainable climate change solutions in Te Tauihu. A recent example of collaboration is Council’s work to support iwi groups to measure and monitor their own operational carbon footprint, through monthly training sessions. By measuring greenhouse gas emissions, iwi will be able to identify the highest sources of emissions and prioritise initiatives to reduce them.
Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō (Ngāti Apa) was the first iwi to be involved in this initiative. The following topics have been covered in training sessions: reporting requirements, scope, sources of emissions, data collection, emission factors and potential reduction initiatives.
“Our taiao team at Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō has been fortunate to be mentored by climate experts from Nelson City Council who have methodically and patiently stepped us through the process of calculating our organisation’s carbon emissions,” says Jen Skilton, Ngāti Apa Environmental Manager.
“This is an important step for us as an iwi organisation in ultimately reducing our carbon emissions and passing on this knowledge to our iwi members. Daniela and her team have been fantastic to work with and we appreciate this collaborative opportunity between Ngāti Apa and Nelson City Council.”
Council is expecting to finalise the first stage of this scheme in February 2023 upon completion of a carbon footprint report from Ngāti Apa. The project will be delivered with a “pay it forward” scheme, where support is extended to other Te Tauihu iwi with the assistance of staff from Ngāti Apa, who will share the knowledge and lessons learnt during the training.
If you are interested in measuring your organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions and finding out how to reduce your footprint, there are excellent free tools available to help you:
tools.business.govt.nz/climate
environment.govt.nz/guides/measuring-and-reporting-greenhouse-gas-emissions-guide-for-organisations
