Client Spotlight: Tonkin + Taylor
For Tonkin + Taylor, sustainability is not a separate initiative. It is part of how the business operates, supports clients, and contributes to a better future. Achieving net zero carbon certification with Ekos reflects their commitment to taking meaningful climate action, continuously improving their carbon management practices, and creating positive environmental and social outcomes. Through a focus on innovation, credible measurement, and long-term thinking, Tonkin + Taylor is embedding sustainability into everyday decision-making across the organisation.
1. What motivated you to begin working with Ekos and what do you aim to achieve?
We decided it was important for us to become net zero certified to show our clients, our people, and other stakeholders our commitment to carbon reduction and action. We chose Ekos because of aligned values, such as a focus on the broader biodiversity, community, and cultural outcomes in addition to carbon.
2. What have you learnt from working with Ekos on carbon management? Have you seen any benefits? Were there any challenges and how did you overcome them?
It has been great to have the audit process supporting our carbon accounting and giving us confidence in our data. Ekos has some more stringent rules than the standards, such as a requirement to include well-to-tank emissions beyond fleet – for example shows up in our flight-related emissions. While not required, the approach has greater integrity, as it identifies the emissions associated with our decision-making – and now it’s just part of our measurement.
3. What carbon initiatives are you currently engaged in? and how will these impact your business for a sustainable future?
Since we’ve largely tackled or are progressing initiatives that can be implemented centrally, we’re now shifting to more of the behaviour-change initiatives. This includes our annual TravelWise sustainable commuting photo competition, which this year is also including introducing WorkRide and Extraordinary, for reduced cost bike/scooters and public transport, for our New Zealand employees.
We’re working to better understand reasons for travel so we can target support to reduce travel while meeting business needs.
We’re also focusing on our work with clients – through providing carbon reduction strategies training, specialist services to calculate whole of life carbon of infrastructure options, and tools to help our people consider carbon impacts as they do their work.
These initiatives are extending the conversation about carbon to other stakeholders, reflecting our Purpose: Together we create and sustain a better world.
4. What changes have made the biggest impact?
Our biggest moves have been switching to certified renewable energy providers (we still have some work to do in this for our Australian operations), changing our fleet policy to prioritise EVs, and targeting Green Star for our new or substantially refurbished offices (which reduces energy demand).
5. For you, what might a low carbon business look like?
A business where investment and day-to-day decisions that support lower carbon are also those that are the most efficient, enable connections with high value partners – with aligned values, strong risk and opportunity management, and innovative - and have clear contributions to wider stakeholders. For us, this includes how we operate as well as the solutions we provide to our clients to help reduce their emissions.
6. What areas have you looked at to make your GHG emissions report more complete? Have you learnt about bettering your data collection?
We have added to our scope as we’ve matured. This has included adding employee commuting, waste, and freight. We’ve shifted to monthly data input wherever possible, which helps spread the load across the year, improves our understanding of the data, and allows us to identify where there may be sources that need more attention.
7. What will your company's sustainability look like by 2030?
We hope to truly have sustainability thinking embedded into everything we do by 2030. We’ve got a strong foundation and good action happening across our business.
8. How do you communicate your actions and certification?
This is an area we can do better. We include our actions and certification in our annual sustainability report, on our website, and provide details to clients and other stakeholders who are interested. We would love to celebrate the outcomes of the projects we contribute to more.
9. What are the links between your sustainability and social goals?
For us sustainability is broad, and reaches beyond ‘sustainable’, and to regenerative. Sustainability at Tonkin + Taylor Group is about actively responding to local and global social and environmental challenges and shaping a future in which the natural environment is truly valued and protected, people and places are thriving, and all people are healthy, fulfilled, and empowered to pursue their aspirations.
10. What motivated your business to invest in biodiversity credits, and how does this support your broader sustainability goals?
As an environmental and engineering firm with a long history in caring for the environment (we developed the first private Environmental Impact Assessment in New Zealand in 1972 and have one of the largest consulting ecology teams in New Zealand) nature is a fundamental part of decisions for us. We purchased biodiversity credits as part of our suite of offsets where they included renewable energy initiatives, as we wanted to continue our commitment to conservation outcomes alongside our offsets.