Stepping on the pedal to get off the gas
Introducing our newest initiative at Z Energy, Carbon Count
Just like many of you, I am working on how and where I reduce my carbon footprint. My partner and I, along with our three young children, have a 3-bedroom house we rent almost an hour away from work, own many devices, consume thousands of kWh of energy per year, and run two thirsty petrol vehicles. We drive more than 500km a week for life’s activities, fly often for our holidays, and travel to every surfable beach on the North Island. We’ve made steps like going meat-free and cutting down on dairy, but I really have no idea if that makes me better than a “typical Kiwi footprint”, or if I even want to be striving for that anyway. Just what is an average New Zealander’s carbon footprint?
These are some of the questions I was asking when I was mentoring a team in Velocity, an entrepreneurship development programme based at the University of Auckland. They were developing a “super-connector” for Kiwis who want to take action against climate change. It was extremely inspiring to be around and personally challenging. One of the main take-aways was that “typical Kiwis” (like me and my family) don’t know how to take action against climate change to meet our goals as a country of being carbon neutral by 2050. They know roughly what is needed, but struggle with where to start. It was a lightbulb moment for me. I needed to start getting into action.
I began doing things like taking shorter showers, and I’ve committed to taking public transport once a week, adding to working from home once a week. And in the next 3 months, I will be buying an electric car!
At the same time, I was looking at how the organisation I work for, Z Energy (a NZ based fuel, retail, & energy company) could also engage customers in reducing or offsetting their fuel consumption. This started from a simple mock-up of how it could come to life with Sharetank, our world-first virtual fuel tank. In this process, I learnt how much we already contributed to permanent forestry in NZ and how customers could purchase carbon offsets in the same way. I also discovered that others were committed to the same cause.
A few conversations later, and working over the summer holidays, we built a tool to get customers engaged with their carbon fuel footprint on Z App. By purchasing fuel with Z, their fuel consumption is automatically converted into CO2 emissions, easily seen in the Carbon Count feature. Now it’s their choice with what they want to do with that information—whether it be drive less or offset their emissions. If customers do decide to offset their emissions, 100% of the money goes to protecting native NZ forestry—joining Z and many other organizations that already contribute to local permanent forestry.
However, we don’t expect behavior change overnight. Our research has shown that many people don’t really know how carbon emissions or offsetting programs work. To this end, the feature also gives info on what a carbon offset is, why carbon sinks are important, and how customers can reduce their footprint in various ways.
But we haven’t stopped there. By including the ability for a customer add a ‘non-automated’ emission, customers can input unidentified litres they’ve purchased at Z or at other retailers and offset those too. Climate change isn’t just about Z and we think it’s important that Kiwis can see the total impact of their driving behaviour. In addition, we can promote further behaviour change through other integrations, such as other fuel networks, food & beverage, air travel, and even electricity generation.
I may be a typical Kiwi with a typical carbon footprint, but that doesn’t justify my lifestyle choices. How will knowing my fuel data affect me? Will I be motivated to buy that electric car sooner, drive less, or will I just shrug it off? I’m also interested to learn how our customers will act once they know their fuel carbon footprint if they will choose to offset their CO2 emissions, and if initiatives like Carbon Count can help us collectively strive for a better tomorrow.
