2022 Sustainability Overview
-
Sustainability framework established
-
Six sustainability initiatives with more than 20 activities and KPIs
-
Nearly 100% of non-commercial fleet now electric
-
Carbon Capture and Sequestration technology being
investigated for geothermal power plants
-
Delivering strategic infrastructure and diversifying for resilience
Regional climate leadership
What sustainability means for us
For Eastland Group, sustainability is about acting in a way that benefits the environment and the communities we operate in – while at the same time creating value for our investors.
We approach sustainability with a local, national and international lens, and consider the needs of both current and future generations.
When setting our framework, we referred to the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. Our focus areas are where we as an organisation believe we can support the most positive and meaningful outcomes, including: wellbeing, equality, improved water quality, clean energy, economic growth, industry innovation, sustainable communities and climate action partnerships.
Our sustainable approach
Faced with the ever-growing impacts of climate change on communities, businesses and the environment, the New Zealand Government is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Eastland Group and our shareholder Trust Tairāwhiti are taking a regional leadership role, and joined the Climate Leaders Coalition in 2019.
For every one of our business sectors, across all our current assets and future projects, we must work hard each day to find the right balance between Place, People and Prosperity – to ensure a more sustainable Eastland Group.
This requires:
• Meaningful and transparent reporting.
• Challenging ‘business as usual’ decision-making.
• Empowering sustainability champions.
• Upskilling staff on sustainability knowledge and practices.
• Collaborating with like-minded entities.
At its core our sustainability framework is made up of three commitments and six sustainability initiatives.
This year we introduced a supplier code of conduct, which sets expectations to help change behaviours in the supply chain. We’re using this as a point of engagement with major suppliers and contractors, and encouraging them to use less, and waste less.
Find out full details here.
Climate leadership is also identified as a key commitment in the Trust’s strategic plan, Te aka rautaki ki te tau 2026.
Our climate promise
Eastland Group and Trust Tairāwhiti commit to:
Reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions from all businesses (other than Eastland Generation) by 21% by 2025, from base year 2019.
Eastland Generation aims to be: Carbon neutral by 2030.
These are science-based reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The Eastland Group and Trust Taira¯whiti target is set using the Absolute Emissions Contraction methodology. Eastland Generation is split out separately and follows the Sector Decarbonisation Approach, which is the standard used in this sector.
To the left: Our sustainability framework.
Place
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are down 9% on last year. However, they are still significantly above the required reduction of -12.8%. Much of this is the result of Scope 3 emissions and the increased carbon intensity of the electricity systems. We have plans in place to get us back on track and reduce GHG emissions.
We are focused on reducing waste and are gradually making progress as we record another reduction in FY2022. The spike in FY2021 relates to a significant clean up at the Port as part of the preparation for the Wharf 7 rebuild.
We continue to introduce more energy- efficient vehicles, with an EV-first policy, into our non-commercial fleet. We have increased our percentage of non-fossil fuel travel, but we have more work to do.
People
Each year we sponsor a range of local events and community organisations, and provide tertiary engineering scholarships and summer internships for students. These are the total numbers for the last four years:
- $520,000 Event and community sponsorships
- 19 Tertiary engineering scholarships awarded
- 19 Student summer internships
Prosperity
The proportion of revenue from the Generation sector has almost doubled in three years, as we continue to build and develop strategic infrastructure.
The proportion of revenue from outside Taira¯whiti has also doubled in three years, highlighting how we are an increasingly geographically diverse company.
