Phil Culling on a bike

One less car, many more bikes 

ACTIVITY: The Carbon Neutral Government Project

In February 2022 Commission staff took down a car. That is, their contribution biking to and from work during February’s Aotearoa Bike Challenge saved the equivalent emissions of a car trip from Auckland to Wellington.  

“We’re only a small team of 24 people, but we’re committed to active and public transport. Most of our Wellington staff walk, paihikara or use public transport regularly for their daily commute. That works well for us as an office,” says deputy chief executive and daily walk-commuter Phil Culling. 

Herenga ā Nuku’s participation in Aotearoa Bike Month has grown steadily since 2018, when just one employee took part. Today half its staff are involved. The number of kilometres they cycled increased by a third since last year. The number of commuting trips has tripled, and the amount of CO2 saved has nearly doubled since last year.  

Herenga ā Nuku’s GIS manager, cyclist Matt Grose, clocked up nearly a third of those kilometres. He says he bikes because life is too short not to. But with all that cycling around Wellington’s windy south coast, he might find he is living longer than he first anticipated. 

Culling says the Bike Challenge is a fun way for Herenga ā Nuku to build its commitment to the Carbon Neutral Government Programme (CNGP) to be carbon neutral by 2025.
Herenga ā Nuku is part of tranche 2 of public sector agencies to measure and report on emissions as part of the CNGP. During 2021-2022 it has set up a framework to measure and record its emissions so it can begin measuring and reporting early.

Annual Report 2021-2022