We're committed to a sustainable energy future for New Zealand. To us, this means balancing our commitment to renewable energy, while maintaining reliable access to energy for our customers.

In recent years we’ve invested in building our renewable, flexible and reliable generation portfolio which has helped us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from generation by 57% since 2012. We have developed new geothermal power stations, which, alongside our existing geothermal and hydro power stations mean that our generation is now more than 80% renewable. We maintain thermal generation options for when the market needs extra energy, and we’ve also got New Zealand’s only gas storage facility which adds flexibility to our portfolio. We also hold resource consents for other geothermal projects should the need for further electricity in the market be required.

We’ve made a commitment to take care of the natural resources that we rely on so that future generations of New Zealanders can continue to enjoy them too. It’s all about balance and we’re working to maintain that balance every day.

New Zealand is rich in natural resources and intricate ecosystems which sustain thriving and diverse species, environments and communities. 

Our operations can have wide-ranging impacts on water, rivers, birds, animals and plant life. The range of different impacts in different regions means that we have site specific management plans for local biodiversity. Across our sites in 2021 we caught 3,354 pests, planted 29,068 trees, transferred 330 tuna (freshwater eels) downstream in the Clutha catchment (including 19 migrant tuna), and transferred 51.8kg of elvers upstream of the Roxburgh Dam. Contact has also planted more than 125,000 native trees over the last three years. Since our restoration and protection programmes began, we have protected over 130 hectares of land. This includes planting, fencing and an increased focus on pest management. We continue to support local community groups such as Kids Greening Taupō to help build awareness and love for our environment in the next generation.

Our biodiversity commitment

Climate change is a significant global issue with the potential to adversely affect the environment, people and the economy. Through our investment of around $1.7bn in building our flexible, reliable and renewable generation portfolio, Contact’s generation is now more than 80% renewable. This has resulted in a 57% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions from generation since 2012.

We have more than 63,000 shareholders and 1,000 bondholders around the world including many Kiwi families, investment firms, professional investors and superannuation funds.  Each of them rely on us to deliver sustainable financial returns now and into the future.

 

Increasingly investors are focusing on climate change and its potential impact on the environment, people and business.  In recognition of this and our commitment to sustainability, Contact has undertaken market leading sustainable finance initiatives.  In 2017 Contact was the first company in New Zealand to establish a Green Borrowing Programme, in 2019 we set up a sustainability linked loan and in 2020 we became the first company in the Asia-Pacific region to list our bonds on Nasdaq’s Sustainable Bond Network.