Auckland’s ferries, which burn 13 million litres of diesel every year and produce 20 percent of the city’s public transport emissions, are about to clean up their act. Two electric ferries are being built right now for the Waitematā, with design and engineering in the hands of ambitious zero-emissions boatbuilder EV Maritime. CEO Michael Eaglen told Ross Inglis that the two new boats are just the beginning.

In 1993, school boy Mark Sorenson got 20/20 for an essay about the dangers of plastic packaging. 29 years later Mark and his business partner and wife, Ellie, have established Cleanery, a kiwi start-up that’s attracted millions in venture capital and now has products ranged across NZ and Australian supermarkets.

Cleanery removes the water and the plastic bottle from household cleaners, offering

instead a sachet of cleaning powder. Simply tip the powder into any bottle, add warm water, and presto, you’ve got the beginnings of a sparkling clean bathroom or kitchen.  

Declaration of interest: Vincent does some consulting work for Cleanery and has invested a

tiny fraction via the Climate Venture Capital Fund.

Michelle Kennedy is the co-founder of the Auckland Climate Festival, a celebration of all things climate change, ranging from bike tours to investor meetings, beach clean-up, a transport tech conference, film screenings, and the O Tatou Ngahere native trees conference – and so much more. Michelle speaks to Vincent about why she started the festival and how it’s going in the second year.

https://aucklandclimatefestival.co.nz/

Simon Coley is the co-founder of All Good Organics, the pioneering importer of ethical bananas, and also of Karma Drinks, famous for its Karma Cola.

Karma just celebrated 10 years, a notable achievement for any brand, but especially noteworthy because 1% of total revenues goes back to the Karma Foundation, which funds health and development in Boma, Sierra Leone, the source of the Karma cola nut.

All Good Bananas also operates in an unethical industry and tries to return as much as possible to growers in Ecuador. Vincent talks with Simon about the journey to the triple bottom line.

Next week sees the return of the Climate and Business conference, New Zealand’s most important get-together for government, business, and community leaders about climate policy and action.

This Climate Business is pleased to be invited to the conference and to talk about it - Vincent was joined by Mike Burrell, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Council.

There are still online tickets available: https://tcc.eventsair.com/ccbc/

Visit the conference website here: Climate Change & Business Conference - Sustainable Business Network

 2035 Oceania Summit is an ambitious event combining the food, agriculture, and tech sectors to address the impact of climate change on food. Held in Auckland 10-11 October

the summit will feature delegations from the US, Australia, and the Pacific Islands and includes a keynote address from Karen Ross, the secretary for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Peter Wren-Hilton is the convenor and key driver behind this event and the co-founder of Agritech NZ. Vincent asked Peter how tech is addressing the key challenges of climate change.  

Declaration: Vincent is part of the marketing team promoting this event

>> 2035 Oceania Summit https://www.2035.ag/programme/

If Waikato-based lawnmowing franchise LawnRite has anything to do with it, petrol-powered garden equipment is on the way out. It has replaced its mowers, trimmers, and even a concrete mixer with battery-powered versions, and it charges those batteries with solar panels fixed to its trailers. LawnRite managing director Troy Hillard (on the left in the photo) explained the transition to Ross Inglis on This Climate Business.

Auckland-based Urgent Couriers was the country’s first carbon-neutral transport company; if you were in Auckland in the 90’s you’ll likely remember its fleet of courier bicycles.

The bikes were mostly displaced by electronic messaging, but now they’re back. Late last year managing director Steve Bonnici bought five electric cargo bikes and set them loose on the streets of Auckland. Steve told Ross Inglis how the new cargo bikes make sense environmentally and commercially.

thisclimatebusiness.com

Fast fashion is responsible for packaging, energy use, waste and consumerism at their worst. If there was ever an industry ready for a make over, it would be fashion. How about a very fashionable shoe made of wool, pineapple, bamboo, algae and sugarcane? That’s right it could be delicious, if a little fibrous. YY Nation is taking a circular economy approach to shoes that makes your All Birds look like so 2021. To explain the vision and the mission, I’m joined by CEO and founder Jeremy Bank.

What goes around comes around. The toxins we build into products come back to poison us sooner or later. It’s the circular economy at work. So imagine if we could

design systems to remove those toxins in the first place, or at least capture

them and return them to the process. Building a cradle-to-cradle economy is a

mammoth task, and it’s the mission of Louise Nash, the CEO of Circularity, a

consultancy that helps companies build circular systems. She’s also the founder

of X-Labs, a workshop series that kickstarts the journey for companies as big as

Lion Breweries and as tiny as EV Maritime.