Heartland : announces its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets

Posted 31^st March 2021

Heartland is pleased to announce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets - an important milestone towards the sustainability goals published in its FY2020 Annual Report.

Heartland is pleased to announce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets - an important milestone towards the sustainability goals published in its FY2020 Annual Report.

As a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition, Heartland joins other Kiwi organisations that have each agreed to set public emissions reduction targets consistent with the Paris Agreement objective to limit global warming within 2°C of pre-industrial levels. Heartland's target is more ambitious than this, and aligned with keeping global temperatures within 1.5°C.

Heartland's GHG emissions reduction targets are as follows.

• By FY2026, Heartland aims to reduce absolute Reported Emissions[1] by 35% from its FY2019 baseline[2]. This includes a target to specifically reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) by 35% over the target period.
• Heartland will actively encourage suppliers to have GHG emissions targets of their own and monitor the uptake of GHG targets in its supply chain.
• Heartland will undertake further work to understand the current emissions of key sectors in its lending book and identify ways in which it can support reductions in emissions within each sector.

Heartland is well underway to reducing GHG emissions through already established initiatives. This includes a commitment to using only Certified Renewable Electricity in New Zealand from 1 April 2021, a review of the company vehicle fleet to reduce fleet-related emissions, and the formation of a Green Team of over 30 volunteers across the business.

The Green Team will focus on decreasing the day-to-day impact Heartland employees make on their environment, including commuting decisions, office waste, energy consumption and use of volunteer days for environmental projects.

As a financial organisation, Heartland's role in sustainability extends beyond business operations to the customers and activities it actively supports through lending. Heartland will continue to seek external advice on measuring GHG emissions in each sector of its lending book, as well as begin to trial a number of sustainable lending projects.

'At Heartland, we have made great strides over the last year understanding the impact we have on our environment and our opportunity to make a positive difference,' explains Laura Byrne, Heartland Group Chief of Staff. 'Publishing our targets to reduce our carbon footprint is an important milestone on this journey - which will challenge and engage Heartland staff across the business and embraces our mātāpono, or values.'

[1] Heartland's Reported Emissions are all Scope 1 (vehicle fleet) and Scope 2 (electricity) plus Scope 3 emissions from freight, waste and business travel.

[2] Heartland's FY2019 Reported GHG emissions are 1,157 tCO2e. These baseline emissions have been independently audited by Toitu Envirocare.