Environment
Empowering climate action today
Explore our efforts in reducing emissions, promoting biodiversity, and supporting our clients through the climate transition. Discover how we’re making a positive impact on the environment.
Our Sustainability & Climate services
While New Zealand has made good progress on a range of environmental, social and economic indicators, we believe that our future relies on New Zealand government and businesses making a step change in how they think about and conduct their operations.
The biggest impact Deloitte can make as a firm is through supporting our clients in their transition to a low-carbon economy, with people and nature at the centre of this transition. The opportunity to enhance outcomes for our economy, people and the environment is immense. Deloitte has extensive expertise in this space and our people have been delivering climate services for over 10 years. Our Sustainability & Climate services team offers greenhouse gas measurement, reporting and auditing, operating model, and ESG assessments, strategy, and planning advice with a view to driving practical outcomes for our clients.
The path to net zero is complex. Innovation and technology must play a key role. As a firm, we are focused on supporting our clients through their transformation journey. By viewing their business through a stakeholder lens, we support them in designing and delivering the changes that will not only shield them from carbon price exposure, but keep them resilient, fit for purpose, and able to explore the possibilities of a low-carbon economy.
Read more about Deloitte’s Sustainability & Climate services.
The climate transition
Our carbon footprint and progress. The opportunities to support our clients and broader society through the climate transition are immense. It’s also essential for us to do our part to address climate change through meaningful emissions reductions. Our WorldClimate strategy outlines our approach and targets. Our progress over the last year is testimony to the collective mahi from across the firm – particularly the outstanding results of our travel emissions reductions. Some notable achievements from the last financial year include:
Change in action
Sharing the details of our environmental impact confidently with our people and clients is essential for demonstrating authentic action. Our reporting is captured through Accelerate2Zero and shared with our management group quarterly. Our end-of-year environmental reporting is externally audited.
Travel is our largest source of emissions after purchased goods and services. We introduced carbon budgets for each business unit in FY23 to assist them in tracking the carbon they ‘spend’ on business travel each year. To support decision making we have a suite of carbon reduction tools including a travel carbon calculator. As of FY24, we have started to capture employee commuting and working from home emissions data as part of our scope 3 inventory and will include these in our FY25 reporting.
Deloitte is committed to ongoing education around how we can all take climate action in our day-to-day lives. During Grad Induction week, we featured a WorldClimate segment focussed on employees’ commuting emissions. We’ve also signed up for Auckland Transport’s sustainable travel initiative, Travelwise, and worked with their team to provide Auckland graduates with a free two-week pass for bus and rail travel to promote more sustainable modes of transport to work.
We know this is an ongoing journey. Although we have celebrated positive results in our climate action journey so far, we remain focused on making a difference through embedding awareness and ensuring tools for climate action are available throughout the firm.
Work towards net zero in Asia Pacific
In the Asia Pacific, the battle against climate change is not just crucial – it's transformative. The region has much to gain from investing in green innovation and decarbonisation and perhaps the most to lose from inaction. Measures taken to enable workers to adapt and thrive in a transitioning economy will define success and shape equity for decades. With nearly half the workforce in climate-vulnerable sectors, the region faces unprecedented challenges. Yet, embracing a collaborative and proactive net-zero shift could yield a $47 trillion economic boost and generate 180 million jobs by 2050. Our collective actions now will chart the course for a sustainable and inclusive future.
This perspective article looks at the impact of climate change on the Asia Pacific workforce, what could be gained – and lost –through action and inaction, and how governments can lead the workforce transition.
GreenSpace Tech by Deloitte
In January 2024, Deloitte Global launched GreenSpace Tech, a digitally enabled service that captures relationships, expertise and data to help our clients identify the right technologies and innovators to quickly track, develop and deploy climate tech solutions for their path to net zero.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the first GreenSpace Tech engagement was a cross-geography project, with delivery in New Zealand led by Partner Louise Aitken.
Our team provided global market scanning insights and conducted over fifty interviews to identify opportunities for the government’s Climate Change Chief Executives Board as they prepared for Emissions Reduction Plan 2. The final report hones in on nine tech areas, providing an overview of the challenges to technology adoption and commercialisation in New Zealand and illuminating where opportunities lie.
Not only was this an impactful first GreenSpace Tech project for New Zealand, but it opened the doors to more work in the clean tech area.
“The outstanding engagement levels we had with government, innovators, researchers, and clean tech adopters through the delivery of our first GreenSpace project in New Zealand is a signal of the market demand for clean tech insights. Almost all clients who are decarbonising will require some form of clean tech to do so. It’s exciting that Deloitte is well positioned to support those clients with our people and tools like GreenSpace Tech,” said Louise Aitken.
Optimising new and existing technologies
While a number of the technologies needed for decarbonisation are still in the prototype phase, many solutions can help accelerate decarbonisation efforts now, including technology assets, such as our own Accelerate2zero and alliance partnerships like SustainABLE with ServiceNow.
To achieve our net-zero ambitions, it’s estimated that 40% of the emission reduction will come from innovation.
Our clients not only need to understand the climate technology innovation landscape globally, they also need to understand how this technology is relevant to their business, how it can be integrated into their organisation and in turn, how they can also contribute solutions to our global decarbonisation challenge.
Deloitte is well-positioned to support clients through these important decisions as they transition to a zero-carbon world.
State of climate investment in Aotearoa New Zealand
Extreme weather, changes in climate policy, and increasing environmental awareness are disrupting New Zealand businesses, impacting investment returns and presenting both risks and opportunities.
In July 2024, the third annual State of Net Zero Investment report was released by The Aotearoa New Zealand Investor - Coalition for Net Zero, which includes the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), the Centre for Sustainable Finance - Toitū Tahua, and the ethical investment charity Mindful Money. Deloitte, in partnership with Mindful Money, led the drafting of the report, with key contributions from members of our Climate and Sustainability services, Amy Sparks and Emily Maclean.
‘’Writing the report gave me a clearer understanding of the investment sector's critical role in our transition to Net Zero and revealed opportunities for further action.” said Emily Maclean.
Based on a 2023 survey of asset owners and fund managers managing about $230 billion in assets, the report examines Net Zero pledges, plans, and emission reduction intentions. Despite significant economic, social, and environmental costs from recent extreme weather events, the sector shows a lack of urgency in driving the transition to Net Zero. However, there is growing acceptance that climate factors impact financial performance, suggesting that with action, Aotearoa’s financial sector could attract more global capital and contribute significantly to the climate transition.
Smarter farming with artificial intelligence
New Zealand’s wool, dairy, forestry and meat exports are highly sought-after internationally, with a reputation as an ethical, high-quality and sustainable producer.
Our primary industries have always been at the forefront of technological innovation and our economy has been built on the back of agriculture, food and fibre, and the industries that service and support the primary sector.
Increasingly, consumers are demanding functional benefits, clear provenance, ethical and trustworthy supply chains, and sustainable and nature-friendly production methods. To continue to access key markets and be a preferred supplier to the world’s largest supply chains, New Zealand must uphold its reputation, as well as innovate to enable the primary sector to grow sustainably and future-proof economic success.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a promising productivity-enhancing tool which our Climate and Sustainability team believe could have a big impact on the agricultural sector and its ability to maintain its reputation and future success. Possible applications include using AI simulation models to better predict the required fertiliser application to boost productivity and leveraging GenAI to help navigate the complexities of policies and compliance.
Empowering our People
Climate change is not a choice, it’s billions of them. We need to move from commitment to action, and Deloitte can accelerate these efforts through the power of collective action with both our people and our clients. By empowering and educating our professionals on climate change impacts, we enable them to make positive climate change choices both at work and at home. To do this, we engage our people in a number of initiatives throughout the year, creating opportunities to connect, learn and participate in action for the climate.
Deloitte participated in Aotearoa Recycling Week 2023. This annual initiative educates and raises awareness about best practices for waste minimisation and recycling. It encourages conscious procurement and better thinking around the disposal of items, with the ultimate aim of a waste-free future for New Zealand. Initiatives included a food waste awareness lunch session in our Wellington office with a community restaurant that rescues imperfect produce otherwise bound for landfill.
We put our waste reduction knowledge to the test during our Auckland office move in January 2024. We encouraged our people to collect items such as unused stationery and merchandise and distributed them to high-need community organisations and schools.
A stand-out event this year was a panel discussion on nature and biodiversity in Aotearoa, held to mark Earth Month in April. Speakers included Chief Executive of Forest & Bird - Nicola Toki, Department of Conservation Cheif Science Advisor - Mike Bunce, and Capital Kiwi Founder - Paul Ward. Indigenous knowledge experts Rick Shaw and Tamarapa Lloyd, partners from Deloitte Australia and Deloitte NZ respectively, were also on the panel. The event was hosted by Louise Aitken, Sustainability & Climate Partner at Deloitte. The resounding message was that we are asleep at the wheel. The time for us to collectively take action and start investing in nature is needed now more than ever, rather than treating nature as an unlimited resource.
Through events, education and encouraging action, we hope to empower our people to help turn the tide through actions big and small, at home and at work.
