Work at home one day a week

An extra day at home might be an easy way to reduce your energy-related emissions. 1.9 million Kiwis normally travel to work by car – if a fifth of them chose to work at home at least one day a week, we could avoid 84,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year which would have come from burning fossil fuels in our cars. This is the same amount of carbon emissions as taking 35,000 cars off the road – for good.

Hold more meetings online

Save time and stress – as well as emissions – by holding business meetings online or by video conference. This has the potential to achieve big savings in the emissions generated by flights and car travel. People flying between Auckland and Wellington for business generate an estimated 65,000 tonnes of carbon in an average year, the equivalent of 27,000 cars on the road. By choosing online options when you can, you could help to take out a chunk out of those emissions.

Inspire workplace action

More than 70% of New Zealanders are prepared to change their own personal behaviour in order to reduce climate change. Inspire action in the office by championing Gen Less practices, or sharing ideas in newsletters or online forums.

Or you could go large – equip decision-makers with ideas to reduce the business's carbon footprint. Many energy-saving actions also save money.

Some things to try

  • Take a strategic, planned approach to reducing your business carbon footprint. Start with purpose
  • Optimise the business fleet and choose efficient business vehicles. Optimising business fleets
  • Set up an energy management team to engage and motivate staff to save energy. Get your team on board
  • Switch lights to LEDs and use sensors to dim or switch them off. Use efficient lighting
  • Make it easy for staff to walk to meetings or be reimbursed for public transport. 
  • Provide secure bike parking and showers for cyclists.
  • Set up good-quality options for virtual meeting, like web or video conferencing.