We have been tracking our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2007. These measure the most significant sources of emissions – for example business-owned vehicle travel & diesel generators (scope 1), purchased electricity (scope 2), and value-chain emissions like business airplane travel & waste (scope 3).

In FY24 (the financial year spanning 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024), operational activities resulted in a total of 10,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂-e). This is a 24% reduction on the FY23 figure of 14,201 tCO₂-e, but slightly higher than FY22 emissions (10,736 tCO₂-e). Scope 2 (purchased electricity) accounted for 70% of our emissions, so is a core focus for reductions.

In August 2023, One New Zealand committed to setting near-term science-based targets within the next two years, under the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), to align our reduction efforts to align to a 1.5°C pathway. This includes fleshing out scope 3 reporting categories.

In the meantime, we have set an interim goal, aiming to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 10% annually each year. In relation to our progress, in FY24:

• Scope 1 – increased by 3% (912 tCO₂-e FY24 vs 936 tCO₂-e FY23)
• Scope 2 – reduced by 31% (7,552 tCO₂-e FY24 vs 11,013 tCO₂-e FY23)

We didn't hit our scope 1 reduction target of 10%, because our diesel use spiked considerably following the extreme weather events in early 2023 (from generators powering cell sites).

The main reason for the reduction scope 2 is due to a reduction in the emissions factor for purchased electricity (scope 2), as sourced from the Ministry for Environment (MfE) 2023 emissions worksheet. This is even though underlying electricity usage rose (~12% YoY in FY24), due to an increase in retail and mobile site footprint, plus an ongoing increase in customer data use and consumption (~30% YoY trend for the past few years). We expect these electricity and data increases will continue in FY25 and beyond.

We are strategically pursuing emissions reduction by focusing on where we can make the biggest impact. This means using energy more efficiently in our network and increasing our use of renewable energy. We have an exciting development on this front, which we'll share more on soon!