The tool is "an absolute game-changer," exec says
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has welcomed the launch of the Carbon Emissions Calculator, a tool designed to help SMEs identify ways to reduce their emissions and the tools to achieve it.
The calculator is part of the Climate Action Toolbox, which was created by the Sustainable Business Network with the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, along with partners across the public and private sector, including BNZ.
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“The Carbon Emissions Calculator is an absolute game-changer for SMEs, the New Zealand economy, and the climate, delivering specific advice to SMEs on how to measure and reduce their emissions,” said Rebekah Cain, BNZ chief sustainability officer. “Climate change, how we tackle it and how we adapt to it is incredibly important to all of us, and we all have a role to play. Larger organisations have the resources to run sustainability teams and set our plans and processes, but in the engine room of the economy – the small and medium businesses – there is less time and less resources to focus on sustainability. This is where the Carbon Emissions Calculator will make a huge difference. A busy SME owner can now simply answer a few simple questions and get a bespoke and tailored plan, totally unique to their needs, to reduce their emissions.”
The calculator has a huge potential to link actionable advice with the finance to accelerate decarbonisation of the economy, BMZ said.
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“It’s one thing to have a plan, but it’s another thing to have the capital and resources to put it into action,” Cain said. “By taking the calculator’s outputs, we hope to be able to link green financing to help SMEs achieve their emissions goals, and we’re extremely excited about the potential for this to really accelerate the transformation.”
A founding partner of the Climate Change Toolbox in 2020, BNZ believes it’s the key to helping SMEs make a meaningful difference on climate change.
“We want to help develop a market-leading programme to support SME customers’ ambitions to tackle climate change, something that is quick and easy to use and that delivers real, practical advice,” Cain said. “BNZ is committed to being net zero on carbon emissions on lending and investment by 2050, and we have an ambitious goal to get 50% of our SME customers measuring their emissions, setting reductions targets, and reporting on their climate change impact by 2025.”
The Climate Action Toolbox and the Carbon Emissions Calculator are key parts of BNZ’s goals.
“We are here to support our SME customers [to] carry out this crucial work, and the calculator is yet another incredible tool at their disposal,” Cain said.
Rachel Brown, Sustainable Business Network founder and CEO, said the Toolbox makes it easier for businesses to create and put an emissions plan into action.
“Now with the addition of the calculator businesses can find all the information and support they need in one place,” Brown said. “There are many benefits. For example, BNZ, one of our Toolbox partners, will work with business customers to recognise where financial incentives might be able to be applied to opportunities identified by the carbon calculator.”
SMEs can access the BNZ Carbon Emissions Calculator at bnz.co.nz/climateaction
