Ports of Auckland Chief Executive Tony Gibson has today joined with the leaders of 60 Kiwi business to fight climate change.

“Climate change is the issue of our time, and how we meet this challenge will define us. We can’t expect ‘The Government’ to solve the problem alone, we all have to roll our sleeves up, get stuck in and fix this,” said Mr Gibson.

The Climate Leaders Coalition is a collective of business leaders who have each committed to act on climate change and have signed the CEO Climate Change Statement. Ports of Auckland are proud to be a part of this initiative.

The Climate Change Statement commits businesses to measure their greenhouse gas emissions and work to reduce them.

Ports of Auckland has set a goal to be a zero emissions port by 2040. We have measured our emissions and become the first port in New Zealand to be CEMARS® certified. We have a plan to manage our emissions and have recently committed to set science-based emissions reductions targets through the Science Based Targets initiative. We are the first port in the world to make this commitment.

“It’s vital that businesses set individual goals, but by working in partnership we can achieve even more. The Climate Change Statement sets the agenda and will, I believe, result in significant change. I look forward to working with our partners and the Ports of Auckland team to reach our own ‘Zero Emissions by 2040’ goal and to help put New Zealand’s economy on a sustainable footing,” added Mr Gibson.

The CEO Climate Change Statement:

For the generations after us, for the country we love, for the viability of our businesses, we are ambitious for action on climate change.  If we act now we can forge a path to create a future that is low-emission, positive for our businesses and economy, and inclusive for all New Zealanders.  We are committed to playing our part to make that future real.  If we don’t, our competitiveness is at risk.

We take climate change seriously in our business:

•        We measure our greenhouse gas emissions and publicly report on them
•        We set a public emissions reduction target consistent with keeping within 2° of warming
•        We work with our suppliers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions

We believe the transition to a low emissions economy is an opportunity to improve New Zealand’s prosperity:

•        We support the Paris Agreement & New Zealand’s commitment to it
•        We support introduction of a climate commission and carbon budgets enshrined in law

More information on the Climate Leaders Coalition can be found here.