Nigel Tutt Chief Executive of Priority One

Priority One recently did a survey of our business members around attitudes and awareness to climate change. The topic is important to us because we want businesses to be well prepared for what the future will hold. The survey told us that in general, large businesses are taking action on sustainability and climate change, smaller businesses are finding their way more slowly, needing good information and methods. This will be a long journey for many businesses; finding simple and cost effective ways to change and providing the right infrastructure is important.

Transport emissions are a source of early change. With the expectation that there will be a conversion to lower carbon forms of transport, we need to ensure we are ready for the transition. Electrification is gaining pace, but in this region we are already starting a little behind in infrastructure; we have NZ's highest proportion of electric vehicles but the lowest proportion of charging stations.

The energy industry and suppliers will recognise this and adapt of course, but I think that stronger measures will need to be taken in the short term. There are some interesting developments on that front, and we're fortunate we have some great local businesses to push it along. Farmer Autovillage has recently installed fast chargers, and an EV car sharing service with local providers is under development. Some industrial estates and large companies are investing in solar arrays that will power subdivisions, EV fleets or groups of businesses – in that area we are fortunate to have a regional leader in Vector Powersmart, based in the Mount.

The trick comes in vehicles that can't easily change to battery electric – think anything heavy like trucks, buses and industrial machinery – heavy batteries mean that payload is too low. For those vehicles we might look to hydrogen as a fuel source, with the benefits of an electric drivetrain but not the weight. Hydrogen has rapidly gained favour internationally over the last couple of years and provides some exciting opportunities for New Zealand because it can be produced with renewable electricity. There are some great things happening locally in that space, I'll be able to share some updates in the near future.