Overview of the 2008/09 year

The Ministry’s strategic direction

Our vision

Our mission

Environmental stewardship for a prosperous New Zealand — Tiakina te taiao kia tōnui a Aotearoa.

What we seek to acheive

• New Zealand is able to capitalise on its natural environmental advantages now and in the future.
• New Zealand’s air, water, land and built communities are healthy.
• New Zealand’s natural resources are managed effectively and New Zealanders are encouraged to use resources sustainably.
• Risks to people, the economy and the environment from pollution, contamination and other environmental hazards are minimised.

Our role

The Ministry for the Environment advises the Government on all matters related to the environment and is one of its major advisers on the sustainable development of New Zealand.

Acts Administered by the Ministry

• Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941
• Environment Act 1986
• Resource Management Act 1991
• Ozone Layer Protection Act 1996
• Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
• Climate Change Response Act 2002
• Aquaculture Reform (Repeals and Transitional Provisions) Act 2004
• Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Management Act 2005
• Waste Minimisation Act 2008

Our Ministers’ Priorities for 2008/09

During the year under review, there was a change in Ministry work programme priorities with the election of the new Government. In the first part of 2008/09, the Ministry worked on implementing the Government’s priorities which included:

• the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation
• international negotiations for a comprehensive, post-2012 agreement on climate change
• improving freshwater management
• new waste legislation
• leading by example in the public sector on sustainability and building awareness among businesses and households.

The Ministry has been responsive to implementing the priorities of the new Government. We have shifted the focus of our work so resources are aligned with the Government’s priority work areas. The new Government has priorities related to the first four priorities listed above as well as making progress on:

• reforming the Resource Management Act
• reviewing and implementing the Emissions Trading Scheme
• creating an Environmental Protection Authority
• improving environmental reporting.

Sustainability in the public sector, business and households is no longer a government priority, and some work programmes were discontinued or scaled back during the year. However, work on production and consumption issues, particularly in relation to business, is continuing.

Further information about action taken on these priorities is contained in the Statement of Service Performance section.

The Work Programme Highlights

The Ministry sees its primary focus as environmental stewardship for New Zealand, in a way that delivers as many benefits as possible across all outcomes for all New Zealanders – including environmental, social, cultural and economic goals. Our work must contribute to people’s quality of life and well-being while maintaining environmental values.

This section of the Ministry for the Environment’s annual report outlines some of the highlights of our work programme for 2008/09, ordered by the end outcome to which they contribute. The Ministry has since introduced a more comprehensive outcomes framework.

Our main areas of focus, in contributing to the outcome above, were freshwater management, national direction, and the national environmental reporting programme.

Freshwater management

The Ministry’s longer term outcomes for fresh water are to maintain and improve its quality and optimise its availability. During the year under review, the Ministry worked on the following areas to provide national direction and an appropriate framework for managing towards the longer term outcomes for fresh water. Highlights included:

• The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management was produced and referred to a Board of Inquiry. The Board has received, and started to hear, submissions. This proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management sets out the objective and policies for managing New Zealand’s freshwater resources under the Resource Management Act 1991.
• Progress has also been made on the proposed National Environmental Standard for the Measurement of Water Takes which will help provide more accurate information about water use. The implementation task force is progressing best practice guidance material.
• Submissions have been received on the proposed National Environmental Standard on Ecological Flows and Water Levels. This proposed standard will promote consistency in the way we decide whether there is sufficient variability and quantity of water flowing in rivers, groundwater systems, lakes and wetlands. It will do this by setting allocation and flow limits.
• The National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water came into effect at the beginning of 2009. The purpose of the standard is to improve drinking water management by ensuring that catchments are included in the management of drinking water. The Ministry has provided ongoing technical support and advice to local government to help it implement the standard, including workshops, a supporting database, and a draft users’ guide.

On 8 June 2009, the Government announced its new strategy, ‘New start for fresh water’. It outlines the Government’s new direction for water management in New Zealand. A subsequent paper will outline a programme of work to run until 2011 and beyond. Water management is part of Phase Two of the Resource Management Act reforms.

National direction

The Ministry provides national direction through national policy statements and national environmental standards. National policy statements help local government decide how competing national benefits and local costs should be balanced. National environmental standards ensure consistent minimum standards are maintained throughout all New Zealand’s regions and districts.

In addition to progress with national direction on freshwater management, the following progress was made during the year under review.

• The Telecommunication Facilities National Environmental Standard was gazetted in October 2008.
• Consultation was undertaken on the proposed National Environmental Standard for On-site Wastewater.
• A draft discussion document on the proposed National Environmental Standard on Sea-level Rise was completed.
• A report on regional council implementation of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality was prepared in 2008 and published online in June 2009. The report focuses on council progress in meeting the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality by 2013.
• In June 2009, a review of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality was announced. The review aims to ensure the standards are practical and achievable. A Minister-appointed Technical Advisory Board began work in July 2009.
• The Board was appointed for the draft National Policy Statement on Flood Risk Management. Comments on the draft have been received. The section 32 analysis, (which aims to determine that the chosen method is the most appropriate way of addressing the issue, and which requires evaluation of the costs and benefits of the proposal) has begun.

National environmental reporting programme

In all of its policy work, the Ministry requires facts-based research, information and analysis to develop an evidence base for making good decisions. Reporting on the state of New Zealand’s environment is essential for the Ministry to deliver on its shorter term outcomes. It also helps people who make decisions about natural resource use and management.

During 2008/09, a national environmental reporting programme was established with a reporting framework guiding regular updates of indicator information. A range of new national-scale data was commissioned and reported, including on fresh water. Two national environmental reporting forums were held in August 2008 and April 2009.

Our main area of focus, in contributing to the outcome above, was waste minimisation.

Waste minimisation

During 2008/09, the Ministry made significant progress in implementing the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, which provides tools to measure and minimise waste to landfill. The Act gained Royal Assent on 25 September 2008 and created a Waste Advisory Board, which was appointed in October 2008. Part 4 of the Act “Territorial authority responsibilities” was successfully implemented in May 2009. This included publishing guidance for territorial authorities and setting up a function within the Ministry to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Act.

One of the key features of the Act is a waste disposal levy of $10 per tonne. Regulations supporting the waste disposal levy were gazetted in May 2009 and the levy came into effect on 1 July 2009. The Ministry successfully implemented an Online Waste Levy System to be used by disposal facility operators from 1 July 2009. Positive feedback has been received from territorial authorities and disposal facility operators about the amount and quality of support they have received from the Ministry.

The remaining features of the Act, namely: Product Stewardship, the Waste Minimisation Fund, Reporting, Auditing, and Offences and Enforcement are progressing well and are on track to be implemented in December 2009.

The Recycling in Public Places Initiative exceeded targets, on time, under budget, with excellent stakeholder buy-in. The majority of councils involved in the initiative are planning to expand their number of bins through their long term council community plan budget processes. The success of the LoveNZ brand has also resulted in the Ministry entering into Memorandum of Understanding agreements with 10 businesses across New Zealand so far, to brand bins for their customers at their own cost.

Our main area of focus, in contributing to the outcome above, was international climate change commitments.

International climate change commitments

The current focus of international climate change negotiations is the Bali road map process agreed in December 2007. This paves the way to securing a post-2012 agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. The key meetings in 2008/09 were the conference of the parties in Poznan in December 2008 and subsequent negotiating meetings in Bonn in March and June 2009. The Ministry contributed significantly to the New Zealand delegation, including leading negotiations in one of the two main negotiating streams. A staff member of the Ministry is also currently serving a two-year term as chair of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s subsidiary body for scientific and technological advice. This is a significant international role.

Policy advice on New Zealand’s international climate change negotiating position culminated in Cabinet adopting a set of overarching guidelines in March 2009. These include:

• seeking an environmentally effective and economically efficient agreement
• seeking appropriate and effective action on mitigation by all developed countries and by major emitting and advanced developing countries
• committing New Zealand to a fair contribution to global mitigation efforts, which recognises our national circumstances
• agreeing to rules before commitments (this is particularly important given the role of agricultural emissions and forest sinks in New Zealand’s emissions profile).

New Zealand’s annual inventory of greenhouse gases was submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to meet their deadlines. The Kyoto Protocol requires all parties to submit an inventory by the due date and to pass quality measures for parties to be eligible to trade Kyoto units internationally. Retaining international trading is critical to the functioning of the Emissions Trading Scheme. The timely inventory submission is also a key international obligation that validates and supports New Zealand’s positions in the international negotiations.

All core components of the Land Use and Carbon Analysis System which supports New Zealand’s international reporting were delivered, tested and accepted by 30 June 2009.

Our main areas of focus, in contributing to the outcome above, were the Emissions Trading Scheme, resource management reform, and decision making under the Resource Management Act.

Emissions Trading Scheme

The legislation to implement an Emissions Trading Scheme was passed into law in September 2008. The Ministry for the Environment and other ministries have been working to successfully implement the forestry sector into the scheme. Work is underway for the entry of the stationary energy and industrial processes sector on 1 January 2010.

In December, the Government established a Special Select Committee to review the Emissions Trading Scheme and related issues. The Ministry for the Environment and other ministries provided advice to the Committee, including a departmental report. The Committee is expected to report back to the House of Representatives by the end of August 2009.

In June 2009, a Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill was introduced into the House, which will delay aspects of the Emissions Trading Scheme relevant to the forestry sector. This Bill was enacted on 30 June 2009. The Ministry is mindful that the review processes and possible legislative amendment to the Climate Change Response Act 2002 may change the date of entry of sectors and subsequent implementation plans.

Resource management reform

The Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill (the Bill) was prepared within 100 days of the new Government taking office. The Bill was referred to Select Committee on 19 February 2009 and submissions closed on 3 April 2009. The Departmental Report was considered by the Select Committee. The Bill was reported back to the House on 18 August 2009. The scope of Phase Two of Resource Management Act reform (including creating an Environmental Protection Authority) was considered by a Cabinet committee in April 2009.

The Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill proposes setting up an Environmental Protection Authority. The functions, powers and duties will be exercised by the Secretary for the Environment. While implementation depends on the Select Committee process, the Ministry has work underway on setting up the necessary framework for the Environmental Protection Authority to undertake its duties and functions.

Decision making under the Resource Management Act

Making decisions under the Resource Management Act is generally the responsibility of local authorities – regional councils or territorial authorities or both. However, the Act provides for the Minister for the Environment to intervene in decision-making processes for proposals of national significance. During 2008/09, two call ins were completed and two new requests for ministerial intervention under the RMA were received. Three call ins are now being managed.

• The first Board of Inquiry call-in process, for Contact Energy’s Te Mihi Geothermal power station proposal, was completed. Consent was granted for the proposal.
• The first Environment Court call-in process, for Unison Networks Te Waka Wind Farm Proposal, was completed. Consent was declined for the proposal.
• Significant progress has been made on the call in of the Transpower Upper North Island Grid Upgrade Proposal with a draft decision to grant the applications released in May 2009.
• Two new proposals were called in: Contact Energy’s Hauāuru mā raki (Waikato Wind Farm) Proposal and Mighty River Power’s Turitea Wind Farm Proposal.

The 2007/08 biennial Resource Management Act Survey of Local Authorities report was completed in June 2009. It examined local authority implementation of the Act by providing information about key processes such as:

• the numbers and types of resource consent applications processed
• the time taken to process them
• resource consent application charges
• monitoring, compliance, complaints and enforcement of consents
• Māori participation in RMA processes
• good practice by local authorities
• the numbers and types of plan changes and variations.

Discontinued programmes

Following the 2008 general election, all chief executives were directed to undertake a review of work programmes and funding to ensure activities were aligned with government priorities and to free up savings for priority work. In addition, the Ministry was facing a potential decrease in departmental funding of approximately 30 per cent in 2009/10 as some short-term funding ended.

Following the review, in March 2009 Cabinet decided to discontinue three programmes to free up funding for new and existing priorities:

• Bioethics Council, a ministerial advisory committee for which the Ministry provided secretariat support
• Carbon Neutral Public Service Programme, which was aimed at reducing net greenhouse gas emissions in government agencies
• Govt³ Programme, through which the Ministry provided guidance to other government agencies to reduce the environmental impact of government operations.

Cabinet agreed that chief executives of all public service departments should continue to take practical action to reduce their impacts on the environment, where it makes economic sense.

Cabinet also decided to scale back the following work programmes:

• Recycling in Public Places Initiative to establish a network of recycling bins in high foot traffic and key tourist locations. Other methods of funding the LoveNZ bins beyond 2009 are being explored.
• Household Sustainability Programme to provide families with information and advice on reducing their environmental impact. This programme has been integrated with the Sustainable Business Development Programme to focus on consumption and production issues.

Our Organisational Health and Capability

Objectives and achievements

The Ministry’s objectives and achievements for 2008/09 organisational health and capability are outlined in the table below.

Ministry profile

The Ministry employs approximately 330 staff. Many of these staff are policy analysts whose core role is providing advice to the Government on environmental issues and implementing government decisions. The Ministry’s policy staff come from a wide range of professional, technical and scientific backgrounds, including resource management, law, engineering and science. Many people have previously worked in local government, the private sector, or other central government agencies.

Core unplanned turnover at the Ministry is sitting at approximately 17 per cent. The lower rate of unplanned turnover is largely due to the current economic conditions. The Ministry’s work on organisational development has also contributed. In 2008/09, the Ministry continued to progress a range of organisational development and human resource projects, including a competency framework using the research-based Lominger model, a management development programme, a new performance assessment process, and a new remuneration framework.

The average length of service within the Ministry is approximately 3.9 years. This is an increase over the previous year, and reflects the current employment market where retention is increasing due to employment uncertainty in the workplace.

Figure 1: Core unplanned turnover as at 30 June

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The Ministry for the Environment undertook an employee engagement survey using the Q12 Gallup methodology. This allows us to establish a benchmark that can be used against other public sector agencies. Information from this process has been implemented by teams across the organisation.

Equal employment opportunities

The Ministry contributes to the New Zealand Positive Aging Strategy, which is a partnership between central and local government and their communities. The Positive Aging Strategy has 10 goals and the Ministry and been working on three of them, including the retention of older workers, work life balance, and preparing for retirement. This work contributes to the Ministry’s workforce capability and ensures staff are provided with equal employment opportunities.

There has been a 1 per cent increase in the percentage of women in management in 2009.

Figure 2: Percentage of women in management at 30 June

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Risk management

The Ministry now has an established internal audit function and scheduled reviews are occurring in key internal control areas. The Audit and Risk Committee met three times in 2008/09. This has been a very effective forum.

The Audit and Risk Committee identifies high level strategic risk with the Chief Executive and provides risk advice to the Chief Executive and executive management. This informs strategy and decision making and is informed by reporting that flows upwards through the Ministry.

The risk management framework has differing degrees of formality throughout the organisation. The Ministry consistently uses a structured approach to project risk management. Risk discussions occur on a day-to-day basis on day-to-day issues and risks. Another level of formality is used in planning and reporting. The Ministry is in the process of developing and agreeing its risk criteria to enable a greater degree of consistency in considering risk.

Key risks identified in the Statement of Intent 2008 – 2011 on areas such as organisational strategy, recruitment, retention and development of staff, and systems and processes, are being actively and successfully managed. They will continue to be managed to the point where the likelihood of occurring or impacts (should they occur) reach a negligible level.

Improving Capability and Performance

Strategy

During 2008/09 the Ministry for the Environment developed a new mission statement, with a complementary Māori strapline, and further developed the outcomes framework. We began to reorient our activities towards a focus on strategic issues and relationships, the linkages across environmental, economic and social development, and towards becoming a centre of knowledge. We reorganised our work into 11 cross-ministry work programmes which reflect the major ongoing elements of our activities. These changes are reflected in the Statement of Intent 2009 – 2012.

The Ministry’s strategic business plan, Towards 2013, sets out the broad direction we will follow in building capability and improving performance. The plan identifies six strategies for change, which outline the areas that we will need to invest in. During 2008/09 the major focus was on setting and achieving longer term goals, developing our people, and developing quality operating systems. Some key initiatives in these strategies for change are outlined in the sections below.

Leadership

The Ministry’s Leadership Team initiated a significant programme of change in structure, focus, governance arrangements and ways of working. The focus of the Leadership Team is now on the strategic direction of the Ministry, key external relationships, and reputation management. The cross-ministry group of directors now has primary responsibility for leading and driving the work programme to ensure that the Ministry delivers on the Minister’s priorities and carries out its statutory responsibilities.

Delegations of authority have been reviewed and updated. Governance papers were developed to clarify the levels of decision making in the new structure and the expectations of the different management roles, particularly their cross-ministry functions.

People

Building the knowledge and capability of the Ministry’s employees is one of our six strategies for change. In working towards strengthening capability, the Ministry is developing a strategy to attract, retain and develop appropriately skilled staff. As part of the strategy the Ministry, in consultation with staff representatives, has developed new position descriptions which provide greater role clarity and purpose, and identify the accountabilities of the roles. These also enable staff to clearly identify and pursue a career path within the Ministry and across government.

Culture

Our collaborative and supportive culture is a strong element in why people choose to work at the Ministry for the Environment. The new structural arrangements put in place from 1 July 2009 will encourage stronger collaboration on work programmes across directorates and divisions to deliver on the Government’s priorities.

Our collaborative culture also provides a strong basis for building the relationships and networks that the Ministry will need to work effectively with other sectors and achieve longer term goals.

Relationships

The Ministry’s main strategic relationships are with the natural resources agencies in central government, regional councils and Māori leaders.

In 2008/09 the Natural Resources Sector was established to enhance collaboration between government agencies. Chaired by the Ministry for the Environment’s Chief Executive, the Sector aims to take a strategic, coordinated and integrated approach to natural resources policies and management. Natural resources departments collaborated on a joint briefing for the incoming Government about critical issues for environmental sustainability.

The Ministry continued to develop its relationships with the Chief Executives’ Environment Forum, which brings together the chief executives of regional councils with central government chief executives to work on issues of common interest.

Particular attention was given during the year to improving the Ministry’s engagement with Māori and iwi leaders, who are key stakeholders in resource management. The Ministry has developed a set of principles to guide this engagement and an action plan to assist in building strategic relationships.

Processes, technology and physical assets

A programme for reviewing and updating internal policies and processes over the next two to three years has been developed. By the end of the financial year a new delegations framework had been approved, along with internal policies, processes and guidance for procurement, conflict of interest, and recruitment.

The Ministry continues to build on its information management capability with an ongoing focus on service delivery. We continue to refine internal processes to better manage our information technology, information management systems, and customer service.

A number of significant information initiatives were completed in 2008/09, including:

• upgrading our desktop services to provide complete remote working from anywhere
• introducing a framework to improve service delivery through continual improvement
• beginning a refresh of the primary Ministry website during the year under review, which will be completed in early 2009/10.

Structure

The Chief Executive, Dr Paul Reynolds, initiated a significant restructuring of the Ministry in 2008/09. The aim was to organise the Ministry in a way that would best enable us to meet the challenges of our work programmes and to have a management structure that would be more readily understood internally and externally.

The restructuring resulted in the Ministry being reorganised into three major divisions from 1 July 2009:

• Policy Division, led by Deputy Secretary Guy Beatson, will focus on providing information, analysis and advice on strategic policy issues and strengthening policy relationships.
• Programmes Division, led by Deputy Secretary Sue Powell, includes operational activities, implementation of policy proposals, and delivery of information and evidence to support the Ministry’s work.
• Strategy and Corporate Division, led by Deputy Secretary Andrew Crisp, focuses on internal and external strategy, and corporate functions.

The Ministry’s Environment Leadership Team is comprised of the Chief Executive, Deputy Secretaries and the Ministry’s Tumuaki.

Chappie Te Kani is Tumuaki for the Ministry and leads Kaahui Taiao. Kaahui Taiao will provide strategic advice and support to the Chief Executive and the Executive Leadership Team on Māori and Treaty of Waitangi issues in relation to environmental and resource management policies.

The Ministry’s new organisational structure is shown in Appendix B.

Capital expenditure

The Ministry had two broad areas of capital expenditure in 2008/09. The Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS) accounted for the majority of the capital expenditure in 2008/09 – $1.244 million. This is a multi-faceted programme of work to meet New Zealand’s obligations as a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. As at 30 June 2009, both core components of the LUCAS application had been delivered, tested and accepted. The application combines geospatial information (maps) with carbon models and produces calculations and data in the format required for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The second area of expenditure is an ongoing amount of about $630,000 per annum. The funds are mainly spent on updating the Ministry’s desktop and server hardware. The remainder is allocated to the purchase and development of software.

Our Environmental Performance

The Ministry’s environmental performance for 2008/09 is measured using the following indicators: waste produced and energy consumed (including transport energy). We also report on our carbon footprint. Our environmental performance is expressed throughout this section of the Annual Report both as overall totals and totals per full-time equivalent staff member (FTE).

Internal targets for each indicator have been set to meet specific targets outlined in the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy 2007. In keeping with the targets in the strategy, the Ministry focuses on improving its performance against the set of sustainability indicators on a per FTE basis.

Highlights

The year yielded significant improvements across the Ministry’s set of sustainability indicators notably in electricity consumption and distance travelled by ground transport. Improvements equate to a 4 per cent reduction in emissions per FTE for 2008/09. The Ministry will continue to make progress in these areas. The major outcomes of this year’s environmental performance compared with 2007/08 are:

• electricity consumption per full-time equivalent staff member decreased 11 per cent
• total waste per full-time equivalent staff member decreased by 35 per cent
• distance travelled by ground transport per full-time equivalent staff member (including Ministry fleet vehicles, taxis and rental cars) decreased by 14 per cent
• domestic air travel per full-time equivalent staff member decreased by 17 per cent
• international air travel per full-time equivalent staff member increased by 13 per cent.

Waste

Figure 3: Ministry for the Environment total waste

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The Ministry for the Environment continues to achieve significant reductions in its waste to landfill through continued use of the ‘green cube’ recycling system, and through ongoing staff awareness campaigns. The highlights for 2008/09 were a reduction in paper recycling of 36 per cent to 19.4 tonnes in 2008/09.

Total waste for the Ministry is estimated to have decreased by 29 per cent in 2008/09, and total waste per FTE is estimated to have decreased by 35 per cent. This decrease is due solely to the 36 per cent decrease in paper waste highlighted above.

Table 1: Benchmarking our performance: waste per FTE

Energy

Figure 4: Ministry for the Environment total electricity consumption

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The Ministry has three offices located in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Energy consumption at the Ministry’s Wellington office (Environment House) accounts for 90 per cent of the Ministry’s total energy consumption and was therefore the focus of energy reduction initiatives for 2008/09.

The Ministry consumed 783,634 kWh of electricity in 2008/09, a 2 per cent decrease from 2006/07 (801, 844 kWh). On a per FTE basis, the Ministry consumed 2,539 kWh of electricity, an 11 per cent decrease from 2007/08 (2,847 kWh per FTE).

Table 2: Benchmarking our performance: energy consumption per FTE

Business travel

Figure 5: Ministry for the Environment travel analysis

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Table 3: Benchmarking our performance: business travel per FTE

Staff travelled 103,211 km in our three Ministry hybrid cars, taxis and rental cars, a 6 per cent decrease from 2007/08 (110,082 km). On a per FTE basis, this equates to 334 km, a 14 per cent decrease from 2007/08 (391 km per FTE).

Employees who pay for a taxi personally and are reimbursed are not included in this figure. The Ministry continues to make available to staff, bus tickets for travel across town and two bicycles and safety equipment for staff use.

Ministry staff flew 1,589,582 km domestically in 2008/09, a 9 per cent decrease from 2007/08 (1,739,216km). Per FTE this equates to 5,151 domestic kilometres, a 17 per cent decrease from 2007/08 (6,176 km flown per FTE).

Ministry staff flew 3,318,161 km internationally in 2008/09, a 24 per cent increase from 2007/08 (2,684,545km). Per FTE this equates to 10,752 international kilometres, a 13 per cent increase from 2007/08 (9,533 km flown per FTE).

The Ministry plays a key role in representing New Zealand interests in international climate change and environmental negotiations. International engagement also provides opportunities for New Zealand to influence the policies and practices of other countries, and to learn from their experience so we can adopt international best practices. The Ministry’s commitments to international work programmes are growing, potentially increasing the need for international travel. Because of the nature of engagement in international situations, video conferencing is not always a suitable substitute for attendance at international meetings.

Carbon footprint

Figure 6: Ministry for the Environment CO₂ equivalent emissions

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Note: Emission factors are updated each year, and will slightly affect the reported tonnage of CO₂-e emissions. At the time of publication the emission factors for 2008/09 were unavailable. The Ministry has used 2007/08 emission factors in calculating the carbon dioxide emissions for 2008/09.

The Ministry generated a minimum¹ of 804 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂)-equivalent emissions in 2008/09, a 5 per cent increase in total emissions from 2007/08 (766 tonnes). However, the Ministry’s CO₂ equivalent emissions were 2.6 tonnes per FTE, a 4 per cent decrease per FTE from 2006/07 (2.7 tonnes per FTE). This decrease is largely due to a reduction in domestic air travel and a reduction in staff vehicle use in 2008/09.

Table 4: Benchmarking our performance: CO₂ equivalent emissions per FTE

Crown Entity Monitoring

The Environmental Risk Management Authority

During 2008/09, the Ministry continued to monitor the performance of the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA New Zealand), on behalf of the Minister for the Environment. The Secretary for the Environment and the Deputy Secretary met monthly with the Chair of the Authority and the Chief Executive to address emerging issues, potential risks, and progress on matters of relevance to both parties.

In addition, the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Ministry manager responsible for this area met with the Authority and senior ERMA New Zealand management staff as part of the Authority’s strategic planning day. Formal six-weekly liaison meetings were also held with the relevant manager at the Ministry and the senior management of ERMA New Zealand to discuss joint work programmes and other matters of mutual interest to ensure any key issues were addressed quickly and effectively. At a staff level there were numerous meetings on work programmes where input from both parties was necessary.

The Ministry also reviewed quarterly reports, drafts of key accountability documents, and other major reports produced by the Authority to monitor ERMA New Zealand’s progress against its annual objectives. Every six months the Ministry provided a detailed analysis of ERMA New Zealand’s performance to the State Services Commission and Treasury.

Outcomes Framework

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