Offsetting our CO2 emissions
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| Andy Pearce, Ian Turney, and Fiona Carswell, Manaaki Whenua, with Morgan Williams, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. |
Our target is zero net CO2 emissions by 2005
From data gathered on energy use and travel, we can estimate the quantity of carbon dioxide ( CO2) emitted from the fossil fuels used. Our imputed CO2 emissions decreased by 5% this year—the biggest contributor being our reduction in energy use. However, emissions estimates vary from year to year depending on the mix of hydro-electric and thermal electricity used. When we recalculate our emissions using the 2003 emission factor (not yet available) it is likely that our imputed CO2 emissions will be higher (even though we used less electricity) as the recent dry winter necessitated the generation of more thermal power.
Manaaki Whenua is committed to decreasing the amount of energy and fossil
fuels we use, and we are offsetting the CO2 emissions we cannot
reduce by increasing carbon stored in native vegetation. We are achieving
this by increasing our ownership of carbon credits (EBEX21® CO2 units) from land reverting to indigenous forests. Under
contracts with landowners, pasture is reverting to native forest in perpetuity
and we buy the credits accruing over a 5-year period. Each year we increase
the number of units we purchase to offset an increasing proportion of
our emissions. In 2002/03, the second year of our offset programme, Manaaki
Whenua purchased 5 years worth of units from another 80 hectares of land,
bringing the total to 120 hectares. This enables us to offset 600 tonnes
of CO2 emissions per year. We will continue purchasing units
as we progress toward our target of zero net emissions of greenhouse gases
by December 2005.
Imputed CO2 emissionsTotal CO2 emissions from our energy use (electricity, coal and gas), motor vehicle travel and air travel. Overall we used less energy than last year, although we did not meet our target of 6% savings.
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| Emissions factors for relevant year were used where available. 2003 calculations used 2002 factor. Pre-2000 calculations used 2000 factor. |
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On our web site |
| EBEX21® | |
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How we calculate offsets for CO2 emissions |
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