Port of Auckland has an ambitious goal to become zero emissions by 2040. In 2017 we measured our greenhouse gas emissions for the first time giving us the valuable insight required to understand and manage our emission sources.
Our zero-emission programme is part of our environmental & sustainability strategy to continue our journey to become an environmentally positive and climate resilient port. In setting this vision and goal, we have recognised the role we can play in driving change at POAL and sharing our learnings with other ports and the shipping industry both locally and globally. We believe there is a need to exceed the regulatory requirements and are seeking to improve the environment for our city and surrounding community.
We have been working hard to understand our emissions and where we should focus our efforts between now, 2032 (our science-based target goal) and 2040. In determining our roadmap we have analysed a variety of emission saving options based on a scenario of 'cost per emission saved'. This has helped us highlight how we best allocate budgets to achieve the highest emissions reduction.
CarbonReduce
In 2017 we were the first port in New Zealand to be certified under the Toitū Envirocare CarbonReduce programme (known then as CEMARS®). We remain in the programme which involves an annual audit of our emissions inventory along with the required update on our emission reduction management and targets.
Emissions management tool
It was important to us to know we had a robust tool to track and measure our emissions. In 2019 we implemented BraveGen as our emission management software. Each of our data sources is uploaded monthly, quarterly or six monthly and a governance structure is set within the system to give confidence the data is accurate and complete.
Emissions inventory
In our environmental year, July – June 2021, we saw a decrease of 4% in our Total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions (scope 1,2 and 3) from 15,557.5 tCO2e in 2020 to 14,947.2 tCO2e in 2021. The emissions we control (scope 1 and 2) fell 4.6% from 13,098.9 tCO2e in 2020 to 12,502 tCO2e in 2021. Diesel used for operating our container handling equipment, marine vessels and truck fleet makes up the majority of our emissions.
Climate Leaders Coalition
Via the 2019 CLC pledge, which we are a signatory, we committed to measuring and publicly reporting our verified greenhouse gas emissions, adopt emission reduction targets grounded in science, assess climate risks and publicly disclose them, proactively support our people to reduce their emissions and work with our suppliers to reduce their emissions.
Science based target initiative (SBTi)
At the end of 2018 we were the first port globally to make a commitment to the SBTi to set an emissions reduction goal in line with the Paris Agreement. In 2020 our 'well below 2°C' target was officially verified by SBTi. We have developed a comprehensive emissions reduction model to help us determine our roadmap to achieve our target. Our emission reduction roadmap details a variety of projects and timeframes for reaching the reductions required to meet both our zero emissions by 2040 goal and our commitment to the SBTi.
