Tracking the carbon emissions of the government’s fleet
Cabinet agreed last year that a priority outcome is to leverage government procurement to reduce the emissions profile of the government fleet, as part of work to transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050.
Government agencies are now required to significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the government’s vehicle fleet as part of a drive to make the light vehicle fleet emissions free by 2025/26.
Letters were recently sent to agency chief executives from their ministers outlining that the government expects that when purchasing or replacing vehicles, agencies will target those with emission profiles 20 percent below their current fleet average.
A dashboard being developed by New Zealand Government Procurement and Property (NZGPP) will measure and monitor the progress towards reducing fleet emissions.
This government fleet emissions dashboard will show the fleet size and average greenhouse gas emissions of each of 136 key government agencies mandated to apply the Government Rules of Sourcing. The dashboard, which will be accessible from 1 April, will be regularly updated to track the emissions reductions of each agency.
Cabinet also noted that the percentage of zero emission light vehicles entering the fleet is intended to increase every year so that the fleet will be, as much as practical, emissions free by 2025/26. Over time fleets will have more battery electric vehicles and agencies may seek to reduce the size of their fleets opting to use ride sharing schemes. Government agencies are already piloting and implementing programmes that use these options.
“Emissions” in this case refers to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, also commonly called greenhouse gas (or GHG) emissions.
This work contributes to achieving wider social, economic and environmental benefits from government procurement. For more information read achieving wider benefits from government procurement.