Climate Positive Ākina

The purpose of the policy is to provide a framework for Ākina staff to help guide us to work in a more sustainable way. It outlines and demonstrates The Ākina Foundation’s commitment to operating as a responsible and sustainable business and ‘walking the talk’ (operating in alignment with our values).

Ākina will consider a Te Ao Māori lens when approaching sustainability. We believe that through caring for people and the planet in the way we operate, we are able to keep moving forward in a sustainable way to create impact. Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua. Care for the land, care for the people, go forward

The sustainability policy should be considered when making all procurement decisions, and in considering the environmental impact of other operational decisions.

Ākina is committed to improving our approach to sustainability over time and will aim to evolve our approach in line with best practice.

The policy takes a principle based approach and is intended to be understood and used as a guide, rather than a detailed set of processes to be followed.

Read the Sustainability Policy here

Ākina has committed to reducing our:

• Absolute scope 2 emissions by 42% by 2029 from a 2019 base year.

• Absolute scope 3 emissions from travel, accommodation and waste by 42% within the same year

This means reducing our emissions from 69.79 tCO2e to 40.4 tCO2e.

The reason for this is to demonstrate climate leadership that is consistent with our domestic climate change legislation (Climate Change Response Act 2002) and with the overall goal of keeping within the 1.5 degrees target above pre-industrial temperatures.

Ākina Carbon Measurement process(PDF report, produced by Ākina)

• 2018-2019: 69.79 tCO2e (base year)
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY18/19 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

• 2019-2020: 27.99 tCO2e
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY19/20 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

• 2020-2021: 42.32 tCO2e
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY20/21 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

• 2021-2022: 23.36 tCO2e
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY21/22 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

• 2022-2023: 59.67 tCO2e
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY22/23 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

• 2023-2024: 36.65 tCO2e
Ākina Carbon Footprint Report FY23/24 (PDF report, produced by Ekos)

Our team is committed to operating in accordance with our values and creating the change that we want to see in the world. We have specific actions planned to reduce our carbon footprint: 

Priority Reduction areas and initiatives:

Business Travel:

1. Domestic Air Travel: Continue applying a travel-only-when-necessary principle and favor online alternatives whenever possible. Staff will be required to assess the environmental impact before booking trips. Economy-class travel remains the standard policy.

2. International Travel: Same policy for Domestic flights and prioritise online participation for international engagements and explore the implementation a carbon budget for flights.

   1. Also, reduce the frequency of long-haul flights by consolidating trips and attending fewer in-person conferences.

3. Taxis & Rental Cars: Encourage public transport use (Snapper & AT HOP cards provided) and expand the use of low-emission alternatives like Zilch Electric car sharing.

Staff Commuting:

1. Promote flexible work policies to minimize commuting emissions while maintaining in-office collaboration (40% of time office attendance required).

2. Encourage and educate staff on low-emission commute choices, such as public transport, carpooling, cycling, and walking.

3. Centralized office locations to reduce the need for long commutes.

We are a service based organisation and our work is to drive positive outcomes and tackle issues such as climate change for stakeholders. This makes our assessment and disclosure of climate change risks unique when compared to a more traditional business.

Physical risks
For Ākina, our greatest physical risk associated with climate change is the loss of our offices which can directly influence our ability to provide our services. As a risk management tool, we have introduced a flexible working policy and also trained our staff to deliver workshops and services online.

Reputation risks
We accept as a leading organisation in social impact, the consequences of not limiting our target emissions and being climate change conscious imposes great reputation risks for our organisation. Accordingly, we have implemented a sustainability policy which includes a “travel only when necessary” and always selecting low carbon transition options. These policies also ensure we mitigate the risk of rising cost of carbon and accessibility to offsets.

Financial risks with offsetting
Although we offset all our emissions, with climate change action increasing including mandatory compliance laws coming into effect soon, this brings forwards the risk of rising cost of carbon and accessibility.

Main process to identify and assess climate change risks:
Therefore to mitigate the risks of climate change and hold ourselves accountable we use carbon footprint measurements to identify the areas and processes within our organisation that require work. We also use Ekos to offset our carbon, not only to remain climate positive but also to hold us accountable. We monitor throughout the year, analyze our emissions on an annual basis and adjust in accordance with this.