In 2019 we partnered with the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust on the Port Hills Revegetation Project - Te Kākahu Kahukura.

Between September 2019 to September 2020, we offered guests the opportunity to be part of this local forest restoration project and to help mitigate the carbon emissions produced by our experience

A total of $1,960 was raised and went directly towards planting and managing 98 native podocarp trees.

For the year ending 31 March 2021, the carbon footprint for my small business was calculated as approximately 7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Using the Carbon Calculator provided by Tane’s Tree Trust, I was able to calculate that those 7 tonnes can be mitigated by planting and managing 16 totara over the course of the next 50 years.  In addition, my household carbon footprint for the year was estimated also at 7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent – another 16 trees.

The cost of donating these 32 trees is similar to the costs of other reputable carbon offset and mitigation options, but the beauty of this one is that it is specifically designed to achieve biodiversity outcomes, and I can actually see the area where the forest will be growing from my office in Christchurch. The professional planting and management of the totara will be overseen by the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust within areas protected in perpetuity for their conservation values.

Mark Christensen, Natural Resources Law Limited

For more information please visit http://www.tekakahu.org.nz/