A new online climate impact monitor aims to demystify the action – or inaction – of Aotearoa New Zealand’s top carbon emitters.
Launched today, Climate Action Tracker Aotearoa (CATA) independently analyses company reports and data to help create better transparency about what is happening in the world of sustainable business.
Professor Sara Walton
Project lead Professor Sara Walton, Co-Director of He Kaupapa Hononga the University of Otago’s Climate Research Network, says it is tricky to decipher the language of carbon and whether a business is actually reducing its emissions.
“It’s hard to know if they are working in a way that is needed to keep global temperatures at a manageable level, and to also figure out if they are greenwashing or actually making an impact that will meet their targets.
“Our new tracker will break down everything you need to know about what New Zealand’s largest organisations are doing, and how they are progressing.”
CATA, a collaboration with Associate Professor Pii-Tuulia, of the Eastern Institute of Technology, and John Lang, of the UK’s Net Zero Tracker, plus a team from Otago, uses publicly available data and is based on international systems and the Climate Action Scorecard.
Professor Walton says about 200 New Zealand organisations, including banks, insurers, investment companies, and large retailers, are required to disclose their climate related risks. Many other companies are also beginning to make voluntary sustainability and climate reports.
“However, this information is not standardised and is often difficult to understand.
“Companies often produce many reports containing different elements of actions and impacts, which makes it confusing and time-consuming to get the full picture. The language used in the ‘carbon space’ can also be hard to understand, and there can be evidence of greenwashing in corporate communication.
“The aim of the CATA is to help make it clear how organisations are doing with their sustainability goals,” she says.
The project will establish a long-term synthesis of data to track year-on-year how New Zealand’s largest companies are progressing with their sustainability and emissions reduction targets.
The evaluations cover three areas: emissions targets, particularly 2030 and 2050 net zero targets, and how they align with the Paris Agreement through the Science Based Target Initiative; plans to reach the targets, particularly if there are policies around offsetting and carbon removals; and reporting on progress and the frequency and details included.
“The goal is to increase transparency and accountability within and across sectors, and to encourage more organisations to increase their sustainability efforts.
“We hope the website will help the public make sense of company’s activities and demystify aspects of reporting and the language of the carbon space; hold companies to account; and showcase some of the good work being done to reduce carbon.”
Climate Action Tracker Aotearoa: