Green tick for more taxi cos

Another two of the country’s taxi companies have achieved carboNZero^{Cert TM} status.

Christchurch company First Direct was certified carbNZero in May, along with Nelson City Taxis, the first regional company to move towards a green fleet.

And First Direct has some of its 140-vehicle fleet running on bio diesel, produced from waste cooking oil from the city’s restaurants and takeaways.

First Direct and Nelson City Taxis join Wellington’s Combined Taxis, which achieved carboNZero certification more than a year ago.

carbNZero is an internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification programme run by Crown research institute Landcare Research Ltd. It has done the accreditation programme for all three taxi companies, as well as many other New Zealand companies and organisations.

First Direct’s sustainability manager Nick Jackman said the company had been reducing its emissions for some time but it needed to go further rather than take the risk of being accused of greenwashing.

The certification process involved three steps. The first was to measure the carbon emissions of the fleets, then to manage and reduce them and finally to offset those emissions buy buying carbon credits.

First Direct introduced maximum CO2 ratings for vehicles from January 1 this year with a maximum rating of 200gr of CO2 for all replacement cars. The standard is high and Nick Jackman says he is not aware of anyone else in the transport sector who has gone that far.

“We looked at the type of engines and while six-cyclinder vehicles have been ruled out petrol engines have not been barred because there are cars with low emission petrol engines on the market.”

First Direct has been trialling bio-diesel in company-owned vehicles and has a tank on site. Christchurch has two bio-diesel facilities, one using rape seed and the other old cooking oil, which is where First Direct sources its diesel for the trial. It also comes with a price advantage.

The company has  instituted a driver training programme, teaching how to drive better to save fuel, with special training for those driving hybrids to help them get the maximum fuel advantage. It is  reviewing its logistics to look at ways of reducing travel without passengers to make more efficient running.

First Direct is buying carbon credits in tree planting and alternative energy projects, all New Zealand based.

The family-owned company first recognised the need for a sustainability programme in 2006.

“We could see then it was going to become an issue,” Nick Jackman says.

“And there is a competitive advantage, as people move more towards buying environmentally acceptable products. We want to be responsible citizens as well as meeting the needs of our customers.

“The programme will take several years to complete. As cars come off they will be replaced by vehicles which meet our emission standards.”

First Direct managing director Pam Jackman says being privately owned made it easier for First Direct to  go through the certification programme.

“We have kept members informed throughout to get them to understand what we are doing and why.

“We wanted them to understand that rising oil prices meant a need to be fuel efficient to survive economically. Our tariffs are still at 2008 levels, which is the lowest in Christchurch.”

Nelson City Taxis has also been working towards its carbNZero certification for several years, although the formal process began in June last year and ended in May this year.

Eventually all vehicles will have to meet emission standards of less than 250 grammes of CO2 per kilometre, which does not exclude all petrol driven vehicles. Most of the company’s fleet consists of Toyota Camrys and Hyundai Sonatas, with Hyundai i30s due to arrive soon. Another nine cars are due to be changed this year to comply with the new policy.

The company has purchased 672 carbon credits, in a TrustPower hydro project , at $25 per credit. This will reduce as more of its vehicles meet emission standards.

General manager Neil Allan says Nelson is in a beautiful part of New Zealand and people who live in the area are very conscious of the need to keep it that way.

“People move here because it’s a green province and part of our move was to meet customer demand.  We made the decision to upgrade the standard of vehicles in the fleet in November 2008 and it was a natural progression to seek carboNZero certification.”