CO2 cut by Kia

Kia Motors says it isn’t afraid to put its green credentials up for scrutiny to prove it’s serious about reducing its carbon footprint. Three years ago, it became the first marque in New Zealand to sign up to obtain certification from carboNZero, an internationally recognised certifying agency for businesses and organisations wanting to make a positive change to their environment-affecting activities – and it’s still the only one. “When we made the decision to become carbon zero as a company, it was a bold step given the nature of a business like ours,” says Todd McDonald, general manager of Kia Motors NZ. “But we felt we had an obligation to lead by example.” Internationally, Kia takes its responsibilities seriously with extensive reductions in emissions from factories and recycling waste materials, and cutting the fuel consumption and harmful exhaust gases from its vehicles. Because there is no car manufacturing in New Zealand, the opportunity to cut carbon emissions is more difficult and some marques opt to offset them. Going beyond buying carbon credits or planting trees to offset business activities that harm the environment, Kia Motors NZ devised a plan to reduce its total emissions footprint. McDonald and his staff worked out with carboNZero what actions they could take to make measurable reductions and then formulated an action plan, which is constantly reviewed and audited. That plan has seen the company make reductions in freighting new vehicles to dealers around the country, cut staff travel and reduce fuel used in staff vehicles over the past three years. The process saw every facet of its operation scrutinised by carboNZero’s auditors to establish how much carbon was being used in the everyday activities, which provided a benchmark for ongoing reductions and mitigation. A study showed 87 per cent of emissions by Kia Motors NZ were due to freighting vehicles and parts to New Zealand and within its local network. About eight per cent of its carbon footprint was due to international and domestic travel by staff members. McDonald says the fact Kia relies on shipping vehicles from factories in Asia and Europe – and then distributing these to dealerships around the country – presents a challenge, so the company worked with its local suppliers to consolidate shipments to reduce movements. As well as targeting freight for carbon reduction, it cut staff travel and fuel consumption, along with educating staff and suppliers about how to make savings. Meeting fuel-reduction targets with new vehicles made and sold by Kia has been “relatively easy” to achieve because those introduced over the past three years use less petrol and diesel – and that trend is likely to continue. To become completely carbon neutral, Kia Motors NZ will need to offset unavoidable greenhouse-gas emissions created from its business by buying carbon credits. Having completed its first carbon-reduction phase, it undergoes carboNZero certification on an annual basis.