As part of the carboNZero certification process, Meridian undertook a significant review of its historical greenhouse gas inventories. After reviewing international protocols and standards, changes have been made to the reporting process and the way that some emissions are classified.

The Meridian facility includes all the activities that support the generation and retail of energy from renewable sources within New Zealand.

Using the new methodology, 5,059 tonnes of CO2 emissions were recorded for the Meridian facility. Click her for more information about facilites.1

This compares to the 4,464 tonnes of CO2 that were emitted from the same facility last year, the baseline year for our carboNZero certification.

The area that had the largest increase in emissions was from Meridian owned vehicles. Kilometres travelled by diesel vehicles grew by 40% this year after engineers and technicians in Twizel and Manapouri, previously employed by Transfield, became Meridian staff members. As they are responsible for asset management, a lot of driving is required.

We do not expect any major increase in future years now that the cars are covered by our inventory, and part of our fleet management plan.

We are pleased that improvements have been made in the amount of annual diesel consumption by back-up generators and boats travelling across Lake Manapouri as a result of our management plan.

The same cannot be said for electricity consumption. Our emissions management plan focused on reducing electricity consumed in our offices, which was relatively successful, but more work needs to be done in the coming year on electricity consumed in our power stations.

1. This figure is subject to an audit process currently under way. The inventory for the Meridian Energy facility excludes emissions from waste and contractors and emissions embodied in concrete and turbines.

Meridian Energy facility Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Our emissions inventory report for the period has yet to be audited. We are in a 'greenfields' environment and we are breaking new ground on the establishment of best practice for carbon accounting in New Zealand. We apply best practice as we understand it but recognize the need to review our approach constantly. The volume of emissions reported for the year may change prior to finalisation.

The change in methodology has meant it is very difficult to make any comparison between this year's inventory and figures published in last year's Annual Report.

To help make comparisons with previous years across all of the facilities, the Resource Use section looks at recycling, air travel, vehicle use, electricity use and paper consumption individually.