Two years ago Unilever Australia-NZ became a B Corp. It was the first really large corporate, with household brands Surf and Persil, to join a scheme that’s been home to environmental hero brands such as EcoStore.  Why did Unilever join? What did they discover in the process? And what impact has a major corporate had on such a spirited brand as B Lab? Vincent was joined by Cam Heath, MD of Unilever NZ and Andrew Davies CEO of B Lab.

Climate change activism is everywhere: in politics, in business, on the streets and, increasingly, in the courts. Simpson Grierson’s Nick Chapman tells Ross Inglis what’s driving the movement towards climate change litigation and just where might it take us.

Mike Casey is the CEO of Rewiring Aoteraoa, part of an international movement to accelerate the shift to a renewable, electric-powered economy. Rewiring’s first report is all about the electric home - think rooftop solar, heat pumps, EVs and so on. But Mike is also a horticulturist and a passionate advocate for decarbonising the primary sector. He has the unique ability to win over both farmers and greenies, and politicians just love being seen in front of the electric tractor at his Forest Lodge Orchard - believed to be the world’s-first, electrified, zero-fossil fuel cherry orchard. Mike spoke to Vincent.

Whether it’s swallowing bleach to treat Covid or casting climate change as a Chinese conspiracy, disinformation takes nutty ideas from fringes and mainstreams them into our popular discourse. At best, it's hilarious - seen how windmills kill dolphins anyone? But mostly it's just sad and sometimes tragic.  What is disinformation? How is it different from misinformation? Who are the main perpetrators and the victims? No one knows more about this than Byron Clark, author of ‘Fear: New Zealand's Hostile Underworld of Extremists’ and Mandy Henk an advocate for healthy, just, and vibrant digital communities. Together they are offering a Climate Disinformation Night Class, consisting of eight-week, Zoom-based sessions via Tohatoha, an organisation creating a fairer digital world. 

If you’ve wanted to get yourself a discounted bicycle or scooter under something like the UK’s Cycle to Work Scheme, here’s the good news: you can. Ōtautahi Christchurch-based WorkRide now offers a national ride-to-work scheme that uses a Fringe Benefit Tax exemption to slice up to 63 percent off the cost of your next commuter toy. Ross Inglis asked co-founder Connor Read how the scheme works.

The conscious consumer movement has an impact but it’s still small - a minority of people choose to change their behaviour. Imagine if you could make your carbon footprint your bank's problem. Imagine these large institutions, with millions of customers and insights into their spending, worry about their customers’ carbon footprint. That’s the genius of new carbon disclosure laws - banks, insurances companies, airlines and other large companies must now report not only on their own footprints but their customers’ too-so-called Scope 3 emissions. And someone needs to help them do that counting. Enter Cogo, formerly personal carbon footprint app, now being deployed by banks across Australia, NZ and the UK. Ben Gleisner, founder and entrepreneur joins Vincent to explain what’s going on with Cogo.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed last week with a notable first: an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. Not quite the phase out most countries had wanted, and reflective perhaps of the influence of petrostates, including the host Dubai. Indeed, the chair is a head of an oil company, and the next COP is due to be held in Azerbaijan, another petrostate and much under the thumb of Russia. Is COP a swizz? Can it be trusted to restrict the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees? Rod Oram was there reporting for Newsroom. Vincent spoke to him after the event.

Heard of Scope 4? Us neither. If you thought Scope 3 emissions are hard to count and reduce then Scope 4 lifts the ambition yet again. Scope 4 or so-called avoided emissions ask businesses to create products that replace dirty ones and thereby avoid emissions – think renewables replacing gas or bioplastic replacing PETs. To explain Scope 4, Vincent spoke with Dr Jodi York the chair of the impact committee for the Climate Venture Capital Fund and the head of impact at Melbourne-based Kilara Capital. Declaration of interest : Vincent works for the Climate VC Fund. It has just published its first annual report and impact reports.

Climate-related disclosures are on their way. Auckland-based ClimateTracker has cloud-based software that eases the compliance overhead and makes sense of the data. Co-founder and data architecture heavyweight Dougal Watt backgrounds the new era of climate disclosure and tells Ross Inglis it’s as much about opportunity as it is about risk.

Armed with its own IP, Hamilton-based car charging innovator Hikotron is rolling out a national network of charge points. Ross Inglis asked co-founder Stephanie Smits O’Callaghan how Hikotron tackles the chicken-or-the-egg dilemma of building a network for a small but fast-growing market, how to make sense of all those charging standards, and what on earth a hikotron is. Hikotron EV Charging - New Zealand's Electric Future

The Climate Leaders Coalition turned five years old. Its signatories, which include some of NZ’s largest polluters, are a group of 88 companies that have committed to climate agenda and they’ve notched up some impressive achievements. Collectively they’ve reduced emissions by 3.6 million tonnes, that’s a nearly 30% percent reduction since 2018. And, this one that I found surprising, 97% of signatories have identified and measured their scope 3 emissions. To discuss the coalition, its five-year milestone and how it sees a future under a new government, Vincent was joined by convenor Jolie Hodson, CEO of Spark, and by Mike Burrell, of the Sustainable Business Council.

Every 35 minutes solarZero installs a new residential solar system. It plans to invest $1 billion in new solar and battery systems over the next decade and already has 12,000 installations. It made headlines this time last year when it was acquired by Blackrock, the world’s largest investors. And in September just gone, the government-owned NZ Green Investment Finance invested $80m alongside two other funds. In other words, solarZero is on the march. The 15 year dream of solar enthusiast Andrew Booth is now mainstream.. How does it work, why is it attracting so much capital, and how does it reconcile being owned by one of the largest coal and fossil fuel investors in the world? Vincent spoke to chief executive Matt Ward.

Ian Parry is the Environmental Fiscal Policy Expert at the International Monetary Fund. He came to speak at a series of events in New Zealand about tax. It doesn’t get more exciting than that. But there’s more. Ian is a specialist in carbon pricing, emission trading schemes, and the role of fiscal policy in climate mitigation. The timing couldn’t be better, with New Zealand wrestling with changes to the ETS, price drops and then recovery in the carbon market, and growing skepticism about the veracity of offsetting and claims about carbon neutrality. He spoke to Vincent.

How is the Council progressing with Te Tāruke ā Tāwhiri, Auckland’s Climate Plan? In the three years since it was ratified, we’ve had Covid, a change in council, and now a change of government. Will it survive and how much progress has been made? We check in with its architects, councillor Richard Hills, chair of the Planning, Environment and Parks committee; and Parin Rafei-Thompson, head of climate innovation and sustainability at Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.

Sustainability’s elevation into corporate strategy suggests it’s on its way to becoming integral to New Zealand businesses. But why are businesses writing sustainability strategies? What do they look like? And how often do they translate into real action? For answers, Ross Inglis talked with Vanessa Thompson from Auckland-based sustainability strategy specialists Go Well Consulting.

In June this year, a new piece of equipment was anchored 37km off the coast of Pātea in the South Taranaki Bight. Called the Floating Light Detecting and Ranging device,  FLiDAR will measure wind speeds at heights of up to 300m as a well as waves and currents to provide data critical for assessing the feasibility of a proposed offshore wind farm. The Taranaki Offshore Partnership, if successful, will be the largest windfarm in NZ, producing 1GW or 10% of the country’s needs. That’s about the same as one large hydroelectric scheme. TOP is a Joint Venture between NZ superfund and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. NZ project leader is Giacomo Caleffi spoke to Vincent.

The future of farming may be indoors. With eroding coastlines, droughts and unpredictable downpours, farming may be better done in controlled, indoor environments. Better for GHGs emissions too. We know that’s already happening for tomatoes and leafy greens – but what about large scale crops like wheat or fruits or sheep and dairy? Darryn Keiller is the founder of Way Beyond, a company specialising in data and management of such indoor farms – and he joined Vincent.

How does change happen? And what can we learn from political and community leaders? Vincent hosted a live event during the Auckland Climate Festival to learn how three experienced climate leaders crossed the chasm from intention to action:  ●     Sophie Hansford - School Strike 4 Climate founder and Kapiti Coast District Councillor ●      James Shaw - Minister of Climate Change ●      Alec Tang, partner Sustainable Value, KPMG

What does climate change mean for investing - is it a disaster, creating havoc due to storms and ecosystem collapse and ultimately stranded assets? Or is there an upside, as companies discover new tech, new markets and new ways of working? It's probably both! Vincent spoke with Shannen Barns (Mindful Money), Rohan MacMahon (Climate VC Fund) and Darcy Unago (NZ Everyday Investor) for a seminar during this month’s Auckland Climate Festival.

Commercial property is more polluting that you might imagine. Twenty percent of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the property sector. What will it take to reduce those emissions? Scott McKenzie, CEO of Tauranga-based property investment firm PMG Funds, has a plan.