BCC goes carbon neutral

For Immediate Release January 12 , 2009

BCC goes carbon neutral

The Bio Commerce Centre (BCC) has become only the second small enterprise in New Zealand to be certified carbon neutral through Landcare Research’s carboNZeroCertTM programme.

BCC Chief Executive Dean Tilyard said, “At BCC we have a particular interest in the Cleantech sector, so it was a natural step for us to get carbon neutral certification. Also, as an innovation centre, BCC aims to become an early adopter of sustainable business activity in New Zealand.”

Cleantech, or Clean Technologies, is an umbrella term given to emerging technologies that offer improved products or services while reducing energy consumption, pollution, costs and/or waste. These include renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, waste water treatment and biofuels.

To achieve carboNZero certification, BCC committed to a three-step process of measuring and reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, then offsetting its remaining unavoidable emissions.

This meant measuring BCC’s GHG emissions, or carbon footprint, and understanding where emissions were coming from. Most of BCC’s emissions came from electricity for office operations and staff travel to business meetings.

BCC then had to make a commitment to manage and reduce those emissions. This is being achieved through a campaign to cut electricity usage by 5% and encouragement of car pooling, use of public transport and hybrid vehicles, and video conferencing. BCC is also reducing its waste output by encouraging recycling and sensible use of printing.

The remaining unavoidable emissions were offset through the purchase and cancellation of verified carbon credits from the TrustPower Tararua II PRE Windpower project.

Because BCC buys its electricity from Meridian energy, which has carboNZero certification, no carbon credits were required to offset its electricity usage.

An external, independent auditor checked the process before the carboNZero programme small enterprise certification was issued.

Landcare Research’s carboNZero programme is an internationally recognised GHG emissions management and reduction certification scheme, through which remaining unavoidable emissions are mitigated through the provision of verified carbon credits.

The small enterprise programme is available to all small enterprises with a single site that produces less than 50 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.

ENDS

Notes for editors

BCC is an innovation centre focused on three areas: Investment, Start-ups and Growth, and Tech Transfer. We raise money and inject cash into local technology businesses; provide support and business mentoring to start-ups and early-stage companies; and solve industry problems by transferring new technologies from lab to marketplace. In short, we turn innovative ideas into businesses.

BCC is located in Palmerston North’s Fitzherbert Science Centre, among New Zealand's largest concentration of bio-industry scientists and researchers.

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