Climate change

Waaro kūpapa

Boffa Miskell is responding to the climate change emergency by working alongside clients, project partners and stakeholders to assist Aotearoa New Zealand in mitigating and adapting to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Our Climate Change Policy

Our integrity is underpinned by our Climate Change Policy, holding us accountable for transitioning to net-zero by 2050. The policy establishes governance for reducing Boffa Miskell’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in line with national guidance.

The Climate Change Policy promotes a precautionary approach to climate risk assessment and adaptation design. It plans for all plausible climate outcomes as defined by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), to ensure resilience for our environment and projects.

We aim to foster innovation and leadership in climate change action.

Our policy emphasises the implementation of our Climate Change Response Strategy, so that our consultants can deliver low-emission services.

We encourage open dialogue among employees and clients, to critically assess the impacts of climate change on project outcomes, and the emissions produced from project delivery.

In-setting initiatives

In addition to offsetting our emissions, we launched our first in-setting initiative in 2022. In-setting initiatives provide additional sustainable outcomes for our business and the communities in which we operate. These initiatives go above and beyond the emissions we are responsible for in our carbon footprint.

In the past year we supported climate-positive outcomes in the Avoca Valley restoration project on the Canterbury Port Hills. The project is led by the Summit Road Society in partnership with residents and stakeholders, including environmental trusts, tangata whenua, and the city council. The project aims to plant more than 45,000 trees in the Avoca Valley over the next three years, with the potential to remove in excess of 18,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere in the next 50 years.

In 2023 we are launching a second in-setting initiative, to target reductions in our employee commuting emissions. We are encouraging staff members to uptake active transport modes by reducing the financial barriers for E-bikes and E-scooters.

toitu

Toitū Net Carbonzero certification

In line with our policy’s targets, Boffa Miskell is proudly a Toitū Net-Carbonzero certified consultancy. Since 2018, Boffa Miskell has successfully reduced our total gross carbon emissions by 39% in 2022. We are tracking ahead of schedule to reach our 2030 emissions target (55% less emissions than 2018). You can read more about our latest emission reduction performance in the Toitū Envirocare site.

To offset our unavoidable GHG emissions and achieve a net-zero impact, we continue to support two independently certified international projects that prevent carbon emissions, investing in Gyapa Cook Stoves in Ghana, and the Amayo Wind Power Project in Nicaragua. Boffa Miskell works continually to reduce our gross emissions by targeting domestic travel, our largest emissions source.