Whakatāne District Council elected members and staff are thrilled to have been awarded the inaugural Trust Horizon Sustainability Award at the Horizon Energy Group Business Excellence Awards on Saturday evening.
The organisation’s entry focused on the results of an energy management programme, introduced after an energy audit in 2018 identified approximately 26 percent of Council emissions were attributed to electricity and natural gas use, with 11 specific Council sites and facilities contributing the majority of the Council’s energy use. The energy management programme is is run in collaboration with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Council’s energy management contractor EMSOL.
Strategy and Policy Committee Chairperson, Councillor Nándor Tánczos, says the award recognises the commitment Whakatāne District Council has made to address climate change, for both the organisation and the wider Whakatāne District communities.
“The energy management programme is part of Council’s wider climate change project, which involves the entire organisation, and has already produced significant results,” he explains. “By identifying specific areas to implement changes, we’ve saved up to $170,000 and 420,000kgCO2e. That’s equivalent to the average annual carbon footprint of 14 New Zealand households.”
Several initiatives, including switching from gas boilers to heat pumps at the Whakatāne Aquatic Centre and installing higher-efficiency water pumps have contributed to these savings.
In September 2019, the Council adopted a set of climate change principles that guide decision-making to support future strategies, projects and initiatives. Following this, the climate change strategy and six actions plans were adopted in September 2020. The principles, strategy and actions plans were all developed after consultation with the community and together, form a road map for how the Council will reach its ambitious climate change targets and the specific steps required to achieve them.
Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce General Manager, Lucy Devany, says the HEG Business Excellence Awards have been a bi-annual highlight in the business community for over 15 years and the emphasis placed on sustainability has only grown stronger.
“Now more than ever, organisations need to think of ways to become more sustainable,” she describes. “The judging panel was impressed by Whakatāne District Council’s dedicated response to take a lead in this space, which has had tangible benefits for the climate and the wider community.”
Councillor Tánczos acknowledges the other organisations that entered the Sustainability Award category, saying they are all winners and any efforts to address climate change and sustainability should be celebrated.
“Climate change requires strong leadership from all corners of the community, especially the business sector,” he says. “The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is a wake up-call and we can’t keep hitting the snooze button. It is urgent that we all work together to bring emissions down.”