Reducing our carbon footprint
Toitū certification is awarded to organisations that are actively measuring and managing their carbon footprint.
It means the measurement of our greenhouse gas emissions is in line with the international standard for carbon footprints, ISO 14064-1, has been verified by an independent audit and we have committed to managing and reducing those emissions from our 2019/20 baseline with annual measurement to verify our progress.
We have set the following organisational emission reduction targets:
- 2025 target: 21% reduction in scope 1, 2 and 3 mandatory [1] emissions by July 2025, based on FY2019/20
- 2030 target: 42% reduction in scope 1, 2 and 3 mandatory emissions by July 2030, based on FY2019/20
Guided by a comprehensive action and emissions reduction plan, we’ve achieved a 38% reduction in controllable emissions – well beyond our initial target of 21%. Many initiatives introduced in recent years are now part of standard operations, with environmental considerations integrated into policy, planning, and decision-making.
Our targets align with a 1.5 degree Celsius science based emissions reduction pathway and meets the requirements of both the Carbon Neutral Government Programme and Toitū carbonreduce programme.
Our total emissions for the 2024/25 financial year were 1,124 tonnes of CO2-e. As in previous years, most of our emissions came from our Search and Rescue (SAR) activity, air travel, and fuel consumption from our fleet.
As SAR is an activity which we cannot directly control and is a preservation of life activity, we have excluded that source from our reduction targets.
Once our SAR activity is removed, we have had a 38 percent reduction in mandatory1 emissions since our base year. Our strong performance puts us in a solid position to meet our 2030 target.
For more information about our emissions reduction plans and performance, see our 2024-2025 Annual Report.
1 Mandatory’ refers to Carbon Neutral Government Programme mandatory sources, as detailed in the Ministry for the Environment’s guidance to Carbon Neutral Government Programme agencies in 2025. Greenhouse gas reporting protocol requires that all emission sources be placed into one of three scope activities, where Scope 1 is direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned and controlled. Scope 2 activities are indirect greenhouse gas emissions used by the organisation, such as purchased electricity usage. Scope 3 are other indirect emissions generated from sources that the organisation does not own or control, such as air travel. The following sources are included within our 2025 and 2030 targets: Scope 1: diesel and petrol; Scope 2: electricity; Scope 3: air travel domestic and international, freight and courier, hotel stays, taxi, private car mileage, contractor use of vehicles; rental vehicles, helicopter business travel, working from home, transmission and distribution losses, water supply, wastewater services, paper use, and waste.