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  • 19 October 2021
  • News

Climate Leaders Coalition snapshot 2021

We are committed to helping limit climate change, and one of the ways we are doing this is through our continued support of the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC).

Today CLC has released its Third Anniversary Snapshot – which you can view HERE.

The team at Waste Management is very proud of how we are tracking to reduce emissions. Against our baseline year of 2017, last year our team achieved a decrease in operational greenhouse gas emissions (by intensity using revenue) of 10.6%, against our target of 7.5%.

We were a founding member of CLC in 2018, and one of the first companies to sign up to its 2019 statement, which contains a range of ambitions including adopting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets grounded in science and proactively supporting our people to reduce their emissions to meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2°C.

In 2019, we became the first waste company in New Zealand to measure our greenhouse gas emissions and create a carbon footprint reduction plan to reduce our impact on climate change through the Toitū carbonreduce programme. Some of the key ways we are doing this include:

  • Most of our greenhouse gas emissions come from the waste collected from communities and disposed at landfills. To counter this, we capture and convert more than 90% of landfill gas to electricity, powering the equivalent of 24,000 homes in 2020. Our Redvale Landfill & Energy Park, for example, is Auckland’s largest renewable energy generator. Without proper management in a modern, engineered landfill, decomposing waste would release greenhouse gas directly into the atmosphere.
  • We were the first to introduce 100% plug-in electric trucks into a waste collection fleet in New Zealand and have opened a purpose-built facility to assemble more EV trucks in New Zealand.
  • We currently have 22 electric trucks in our fleet with more conversions planned in 2021. We will keep increasing this number and, with a total fleet of over 800, expect to make a significant emissions reduction impact. From the data we have collected, one electric truck saves about 125 litres of diesel per day. Across our fleet, it will be Across our fleet, it will be close to 100,000 litres of diesel saved every day.

Waste Management aims to be the leader in materials and energy recovery – powering the circular economy and the journey to a carbon positive future for Aotearoa New Zealand.

You can view ways we contribute to Aotearoa’s circular economy below: