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ANZ Insights Paper: Measuring your business’ emissions

April 2022

Read about how your own readily available data can help you measure and reduce your business’ carbon emissions and get the commercial benefits of doing so.

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Summary of the paper

New Zealand is part of the Paris Agreement goal of transitioning to net carbon zero by 2050. In time, all businesses will be impacted by the move to a low carbon environment.

There will be increasing pressure from regulators, supply chain partners, and customers to measure and reduce your business’ emissions. While some may view this as another overhead, others will look to the tangible business benefits of acting to reduce emissions.

Business benefits of acting to reduce emissions

Getting ahead of the game

Starting now may enable your business to get a head start on competitors, giving you a potential advantage when bidding for new business.

Efficiency and costs savings

Measuring emissions could be the first step to identifying ways to reduce costs.

Supply chain needs

Responding to consumer and market demand, some larger buyers are reaching back through their supply chain for evidence of action.

Regulatory pressure

New Zealand’s mandatory climate-related disclosures reporting regime is coming soon, so demand for high-quality emissions data will only increase.

Customer preference

Many Kiwis are concerned about climate change, so this could be a competitive advantage.

Getting started

Many business owners are unsure where to start. The challenge is understanding how these changes affect your organisation and how to meet the expectations of stakeholders and customers in a way that delivers maximum business and environmental benefits.

Step 1. Establish some boundaries

  • Select a reporting period – using the financial year is often easiest.
  • Set your organisational boundaries that guide your data collection. For example, will this include joint ventures or subsidiaries?
  • Confirm your operational boundaries. These are activities that generate emissions and are categorised into ‘Scopes’ as detailed in the full Measuring your emissions paper.

Step 2. Look at how your business operates

Identify the aspects of your business operations that create emissions to establish an emissions inventory. It will include fuel, power and travel.

It’s OK if you don’t get everything at first. As you complete the emissions inventory, you will begin to identify areas of your business you may not have considered previously.

Step 3. Capture the data

Start looking at the data you already hold on the aspects you have identified. This will give you a baseline, so you can measure your progress. Fortunately, a lot of this data is already readily available. Power bills and petrol statements are a great place to start, then determine new ways to fill data gaps. Many suppliers for freight and travel are happy to provide emissions information if requested. See the full Measuring your emissions paper for a list of possible emission sources for your business. 

Step 4: Try the Toitū carbon assess tool

Use the Toitū carbon assess tool to estimate your carbon emissions. It can help identify which parts of your operations have the highest impacts and benchmark against sector averages.

Toitū carbon assess is now free for small-medium sized businesses—.

More about the Toitū carbon assess tool

Step 5. Tell your story

Let people know you’ve started on your carbon reduction journey. Read about telling a compelling sustainability story in our ANZ Insights Paper: Telling your business' sustainability story.

How your data can help power your sustainability goals

Starting an emissions assessment journey is becoming increasingly important for New Zealand businesses as we transition to a low carbon economy, but where do you start? In this recorded webinar you’ll hear from Bevan Holdaway, Head of Insights at ANZ, Becky Lloyd, CEO Toitū Envirocare and Joop Verbeek, Owner of IncaFé Organic Coffee on starting an emissions reduction journey. 

Please note that Toitū carbon assess is now free for small-medium sized businesses.

Read the full paper

Read about how some New Zealand companies have chosen to measure their emissions footprints, including some of the common challenges faced, plus how you can begin to capture your businesses’ emissions data.

ANZ Insights Paper: Measuring your emissions (PDF 2MB)

Contact an ANZ Business Specialist

Our specialists understand your kind of business and the challenges you face as a business owner. We can help you figure out how to make your business grow and succeed.

Contact an ANZ Business Specialist

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Important information

This information has been prepared by ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited for informational purposes only. It is a necessarily brief and general summary of the subjects covered and does not constitute advice. You should seek professional advice relevant to your individual circumstances. While the information contained in this document is from sources perceived by ANZ to be reliable and accurate, ANZ cannot warrant its accuracy, completeness or suitability for intended use. ANZ shall not be obliged to update any such information after the date of this document. To the extent permitted by law, ANZ nor any other person involved in the preparation of this document accepts any responsibility or liability for any opinions or information (including the accuracy or completeness thereof) contained in it, or for any consequences flowing from its use. ANZ does not warrant the quality of services provided by Toitu, or the suitability of these services for your particular circumstances. To the extent the law allows, ANZ does not accept any responsibility for any loss you suffer from using or acquiring these services.

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