SUSTAINABILITY – HARMONY PLAN
CLIMATE ACTION LEADERS
Climate change is already affecting New Zealand. At Comvita, we are playing our part to reduce global climate warming to 34.7ᵒF or less, following the Paris Agreement.
Treading lightly means being able to perform our duties with minimum impact on the environment. We’ve inserted our philosophy of treading lightly directly into the design and layout of our market support campus Paengaroa, New Zealand. It’s here that our honey and other key products are packed and stored before distributing around the world.
Some of the actions we have taken on-site in order to promote sustainability include:
As we work towards becoming carbon positive by 2030, and with a clear Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory baseline in place, we now bring our attention to focusing our energy on reducing emissions from material carbon-impacting areas.
We have committed to reducing our New Zealand Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2030, from our 2021 base year. This target is in alignment with the Science Based Target Initiative, (SBTi) 1.5ᵒC methodology.
We are also working closely with our business partners and suppliers, to collectively reduce carbon emissions within our wider value chain.
This year, we have broadened our GHG measurement to capture all our business activities across our global teams. We have published our first ever audited Global GHG Inventory Report (linked here).
Doing this will enable us to extend our reduction targets and strategy even further.
We’re working on planting more trees and turning marginal farmland areas into mānuka forests. We will be planting millions of trees over vast areas, largely within the central North Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Once planted, we leave the trees untouched, instead allowing them to grow and mature naturally. This helps to create an ideal environment for nature to step back in and thrive.
The benefits of these actions are two-fold, alongside spreading greenery, we also help remove more carbon from the atmosphere, as mānuka forests sequester carbon as they grow. With millions of trees already planted since the beginning of our regeneration programme, our mānuka forests have already removed over 37,094 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
We are well on our way toward our commitment to having 100% recyclable, reusable and compostable packaging by 2025. Currently, 89% of our packaging materials are curbside recyclable ready. Every time we review, design or redesign our packaging, we make a conscious effort to make it more sustainable. Our commitment is to:
We remain focused on innovation to design and find greener packaging solutions that continue to ensure our products meet our consumers in the safest and most sustainable way.
We have multiple sustainability packaging projects on the go, as we work with our partners to test the stability of new packaging options.
We take full responsibility for the environmental impact of all our products and the lifecycle of our materials and packaging and are always looking for ways to close the loop.
This year we have designed a bespoke tool to help us measure the circularity of our packaging. This will guide us in finding and creating more sustainable packaging solutions whenever we review, design or redesign our packaging.
We realise that we have more to do – as we continue to tackle challenges with soft plastics and ensure sustainable and recyclable jars and packaging.
We are making conscious decisions to remove unnecessary layers and parts from our packaging such as shrink wrap plastic. We have already removed 2 tonnes of shrink wrap plastic from our honey production.
Our jars and packaging are made here in New Zealand from BPA-free recyclable plastic. All our paper and cardboard are PEFC/FSC sustainable sourced certified
Also, our Comvita® starch-based packaging can be disposed of with a clear conscience.
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