MISSION ZERO has been awarded Nelson City Council funding to lead a Low-carbon Commute Initiative, enabling organisations in the Nelson region to encourage behaviour change related to employee commuting. Tasman District Council, Nelson Tasman Network Trust and Port Nelson are also supporting the project through financial contributions.
Some of the largest employers in Nelson including Port Nelson, Health New Zealand Nelson Marlborough (includes Nelson Hospital), Sealord, Cawthron Institute, Nelmac Kūmānu, Nelson Airport, Bowater Motors Group, Tonkin + Taylor and Pic’s Peanut Butter have signed up to participate in the initiative.
Representing close to 3,500 employees, the group is working together to develop strategies to facilitate low carbon commute-to-work behaviour change.
MISSION ZERO is funded to:
- engage with a selected group of businesses,
- develop an employee commute suite of tools including a survey, data analytics and a presentation – to be tested with participating businesses and freely available after the project, run focus groups and workshops to identify barriers and find solutions,
- support the development of action plans leading to reductions in Scope 3 emissions,
- identify and promote tools and collaborative decarbonisation initiatives, and
- run closing surveys and reports.
The project runs from July 2024 until June 2025 and includes a number of touchpoints for participating businesses to meet, network and ideate. It brings together a group of large and small-to-medium (SME) sized organisations to find solutions to greener commuting barriers.
MISSION ZERO’s Low-carbon Commute Initiative is an opportunity for organisations to not only engage their employees in their sustainability goals, but to also connect and share ideas with like-minded businesses in the region.
Project map:
Image credit (L-R): Adrienne Kozlowski (Tonkin + Taylor), Daniela Stringer (Sealord), Bruce Gilkison (Mission Zero), Shannon Holroyd (Port Nelson), Natalie Gilberd (Mission Zero), Robyn Munro (Nelmac Kūmānu), Annabel Scaife (Sealord), Katrina Taylor-Hewitt (Cawthron Institute), Marta Karlik-Neale (Mission Zero). Thanks to Moana Sup and Surf / Nelson Paddleboards for the loan of the paddleboards.