Every year we measure and report our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and produce an annual GHG inventory report in accordance with the International Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14046-1.
Our emissions reduction target
In 2021, we set an ambitious goal: to achieve a 60 per cent reduction of our controllable Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. This excludes non-controllable emissions from transmission losses, which is energy lost in transit along transmission and distribution networks as well as at substations.
Overall, we are well on track to achieve these targets with Scope 1 and 2 emissions in FY2024 seeing a 57 per cent decrease compared to our FY2006 baseline. In FY2024, we achieved 95 per cent of our stated 2030 emission reduction target. However, our total GHG emissions this year are up four per cent, primarily as a result of increases in our purchased goods and services, capital goods and construction. This is in line with our expectations.
Enabling the move towards an increasingly renewable electricity system for New Zealand is the biggest contribution Transpower can make to reducing our emissions. One challenge Transpower faces is that, as we enable the electrification of the economy by building new connection points and upgrading the national grid, our own carbon footprint is set to increase substantially. This is due to the likely rise in transmission losses – at least in the immediate term – as well as an increase in embodied carbon as part of the physical construction and upgrade of network infrastructure. It is important to note that any increase of our own carbon footprint will ultimately be offset by the net benefit of electrification to the country. Enabling electrification is the best way to reduce New Zealand’s overall emissions.
You can read more about our carbon footprint reduction initiatives in our Sustainability Strategy.
Our FY2024 GHG Inventory Report
Our total emissions are estimated at 169,485 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), an increase of 6,602 tCO₂e from FY2023.
For a detailed breakdown and for more information, read our FY2024 GHG Inventory Report here.
Scope 1: 3,452 tCO2e
Scope 1 emissions are those that arise directly from our operations. They include emissions from our use of fugitive gases and fuel usage in vehicles. Transpower is the country’s largest holder of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), which we use as an insulating gas in our essential high-voltage switchgear.
In 2021, we developed our SF6 management strategy. Our overarching goal is to replace low-voltage switchgear with SF6-free alternatives at end of life and monitor international best practice to enable investment in SF6-free high-voltage switchgear.
This year, we have almost halved our losses from SF₆ and other fugitive gases, from 6,087 tCO2e to 3,109 tCO2e. This decrease reflects our work to implement an increasing number of SF₆ leak repairs, although the size of the decrease is in part due to unusually high SF₆ emissions in FY2023.
We have continued our long-running work programme to switch to electric vehicles where suitable options exist. As of FY2024, Transpower’s passenger fleet is now 100 per cent electric battery or plug-in hybrid vehicles, up from only 15 per cent in FY2019.
Note: Our reported SF₆ emissions data has been calculated using our gas transactions data, reporting on the gas used to fill our assets or taken out of our assets when degassing them. This year's detailed inventory report provides information on some SF₆ data anomalies, net to 4.3 kg of SF₆ gas or 101 tCO2e, which are excluded from our total reported SF₆ emissions. If we had included the anomalies net delta our total SF₆ emissions would increase by three per cent to 3,192 tCO2e, FY2024’s decrease from FY2006 would be 56 per cent and our achievement towards our Scope 1 and 2 controllable emissions reduction target would remain at 95 per cent.
Scope 2: 107,851 tCO2e
Scope 2 emissions relate to electricity usage in our buildings and substations and includes non-controllable transmission losses associated with operating the National Grid. Scope 2 emissions make up most of our carbon footprint, with transmission losses by far the largest contributor.
This year we have seen a decrease in transmission losses from 111,323 tCO2e to 107,573 tCO2e.
GHG emissions arising from transmission losses fluctuate year to year, largely driven by factors outside of Transpower’s control; notably climatic patterns, which in turn influence electricity generation patterns in New Zealand. The proportion of overall emissions from thermal generation allocated to transmissions losses is also inversely linked to the proportion of renewable generation. As the generation mix becomes more renewable, transmission losses may increase, but emissions linked to transmission losses will fall.
As part of our Sustainability Strategy, we are seeking to better understand Transpower’s role in transmission losses, focusing effort on areas within our control.
Scope 3: 58,182 tCO2e
Scope 3 emissions in the categories of purchased goods and services and capital goods increased by 53 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. These increases are not unexpected; they reflect improved data collection reported from some of our service providers, and the increase in work undertaken to maintain the existing grid and build new infrastructure.
We’re undertaking further analysis to understand the emissions intensity profile of these to determine if there may have been a reduction in intensity despite an overall increase in emissions.
Emissions from waste increased significantly, from 49 tCO2e to 103 tCO2e. This can be explained by the fact that we have been working on providing actual data for all landfill waste we generate, and this past year was the first in which we included all offices and warehouses in our reporting.
Employee commuting increased 76 per cent over the past year; our commuting survey showed that, on average, employees spent 33 per cent more time in our offices this year than they did last year. Conversely, alongside a decrease of staff working from home, a significant change in the way the Ministry for the Environment calculates the working from home emission factor resulted in a 92 per cent decrease in working from home emissions, down from 48 tCO2e to 4 tCO2e.