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Celebrating SIX years of being carbonzero!

Celebrating SIX years of being carbonzero!

This month Ecoware celebrates SIX YEARS of being Toitū carbonzero certified. This means that for the last 6 years, we have measured our company's annual carbon emissions and offset them! In the past 12 months, we've offset 228 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), which is the same as:

 

  • Driving from Auckland to Wellington in a medium-sized car 1658 times!
  • 41 return economy flights from Auckland to London!

 

So how do we offset these emissions? By investing in a variety of projects that work to counteract or reduce the emissions we put in the atmosphere. This year, we're proud to support the following projects: 

 

Solar Cooker Project

Nanyang Danjiang River, China

 

This project involves distributing and installing 48,000 sets of solar cookers for rural households in Xichuan County, China. The cookers are essentially a parabolic dish that concentrates solar energy onto a central cooking pot - using solar means they can replace the high polluting coal-fired stoves currently used for daily cooking. This project is going to save 90,000 tCO2e every year, reduce indoor air pollution and improve the health of those exposed to smoke from traditional coal-fired stoves. To top it off - harnessing solar cookers mean the poorest households can save money on fuel, reducing household expenditure by more than 10%.

 

We chose to support this project because many of our factories are in China. Thus, we feel a duty of care to the sustainability of this country as well as our own, and the project does not receive government subsidy or other development funding.

 

Forest Restoration and Biodiversity Protection Project

Puhi Peaks, Kaikoura, New Zealand 

 

Puhi Peaks is a station in our beautiful Kaikoura region. They have a goal to protect, preserve and enhance the native biodiversity while remaining a productive economically sustainable farming and tourism operation. 1,000 ha of the station is under a Queen Elizabeth II covenant and is classified as a Significant Natural Area of International Importance. Puhi Peaks is also home to one of the last two remaining wild breeding colonies of Hutton's shearwater, which are classified as nationally endangered.

 

Supporting biodiversity and protecting and enhancing native plant-life encourages carbon sequestration, which is the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We wholeheartedly encourage everyone and every business to support native forest restoration projects in New Zealand where they can. We try to spread our support across many but chose Puhi Peaks to offset our annual emissions as we have a particular affinity with the region and support local fundraisers in the township each year.

How did we measure our emissions in the first place? We work with independents auditors from Toitū Envirocare who help us measure our emissions, and subsequently make a plan to reduce our emissions for the coming year. Their guidance enables us to set the right policies internally to allow our business to grow, but not so much our emissions.

 

We're pretty chuffed about our certificate, and encourage more businesses to consider reducing their own carbon footprint and getting behind carbon offsetting projects!