PKW to prepare Te Huringa o Te Āhuarangi climate change response

A strategic response to the impact of climate change on the way Parininihi ki Waitōtara (PKW) manages its businesses is being developed.

PKW’s seven-member Committee of Management held a climate change workshop last year, ahead of the Climate Change Commission’s final report to the Government this May, to discuss how the Incorporation needs to respond to the global issue.

The new strategy, which will be closely aligned to the commitments laid down in the Kaitiakitanga Strategy, is expected to be approved next month and implemented from 2022.

The Climate Change Commission’s draft report in January listed key recommendations that the Government is largely expected to agree with. These include an overall reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions of 36% by 2035, starting with 2% by 2025 and 17% by 2030.

To meet these targets, the Commission recommends as critical actions: climate-friendly farming practices, switching to electric vehicles, accelerating renewable energy generation, and growing more permanent native forests.

The recommendations include cutting livestock numbers by 15% from 2018 levels by 2030, putting a stop to importing light internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, and ending coal-generated energy by 2035.

Puna Wano-Bryant, General Manager Shareholder Engagement, said climate change is a critical issue for humanity.

“As an intergenerational Māori organisation whose shareholders have clearly articulated that environmental sustainability is a priority, it is our responsibility to come up with a plan that responds to the way our activities impact upon the environment,” Puna says.

“The Government will legislate after receiving the Commission’s final advice in May – it has pledged to release an Emissions Reduction Plan before the end of the year.”

“PKW is committed to being proactive in order to align with our own principles and objectives, as articulated in our Kaitiakitanga Strategy. Ultimately, the responsibility to respond to climate change is ours and we are addressing the issue proactively, prior to any Government rollout of legislation which could put us into compliance mode.” Offsetting the impact of PKW’s business activities is the organisation’s first consideration, Puna said.

“There is a suite of options and solutions. Within that, there’s a tikanga, mātauranga Māori conversation about how we offset and why.”

The PKW climate change strategy – Te Huringa o Te Āhuarangi – will build on its Kaitiakitanga Strategy with a clear and implementable work plan to achieve a set of climate goals. It will consider the fullest scope of climate change impacts on the business, and the organisation’s role as kaitiaki.

“We are at the stage of connecting our kaitiakitanga aspirations to clear and transparent measures for change,” Puna said.

“We’re not an ordinary business – we are kaitiaki, with deeper obligations to the land. It is not a linear conversation about how to reduce the impact of our activities by offsetting – it is a deeper and wider conversation. Once you apply the lens of kaitiakitanga, the conversation becomes more multi-faceted. Providing continued benefits to shareholder whānau is a part of the balance of considerations.”

The social impacts of climate change and how shareholder whānau will be affected by the transition to a net-zero carbon economy will also be considered, along with PKW’s role in supporting whānau to adapt, act and increase resilience.

“Addressing climate change will involve deliberate changes in our behaviour. The changes needed are globally urgent and significant. As our history of interference and interruption demonstrates, we have a legacy of resilience and the ability to adapt and respond to change – even change that poses a risk to our existence and identity.”