CHEP New Zealand receives CEMARS certification

Packaging company CHEP New Zealand has received CEMARS certification, which formally recognises CHEP’s effectiveness in measuring greenhouse gas emissions in compliance with ISO 14064-1 as well as its ability to identify, prioritise and manage greenhouse gas emission reduction activities. CEMARS (Certified Emissions Measurement And Reduction Scheme) is the world’s first internationally accredited greenhouse gas certification program under ISO 14064.

As a provider of re-usable supply chain packaging solutions, managing movements of in excess of 64 million pallets, containers and re-usable plastic crates (RPCs) in New Zealand every year, sustainability is at the core of CHEP’s daily operations. The company’s safety, health and environment manager, Richard Dunn, said CEMARS “takes us a step further by ensuring we are measuring our material impacts consistently and completely and gives assurance to our customers and shareholders that the data we report is accurate”.

The CEMARS program involves a detailed audit of CHEP New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions every 12 months and provides targets to help CHEP reduce intensity emissions by 2% every year from 2013 levels over a five-year period. It also provides a framework for driving improved carbon management and facilitates the purchase of carbon credits to offset remaining emissions.

CHEP New Zealand’s four environmental sustainability targets for the 2015 financial year include:

• 100% chain of custody certified timber used for all pooled pallets.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity annually by a minimum of 2% to achieve a reduction of 10% by the end of the fifth year of the program (2018).
• Zero timber waste to landfill.
• Improved recycling rates at service centres.

Dunn concluded, “Measuring CHEP’s environmental impact and reducing the carbon footprint is critical to CHEP’s commitment to sustainability at a New Zealand and global level.”