Interview with Greg Foran: Playing our part in making Aotearoa a world-class sustainable visitor destination
Greg Foran, CEO, Air New Zealand
What is your personal WHY in relation to combating climate change and environmental challenges, and preserving Aotearoa’s natural capital?
Our environment is such a fundamental part of who we are as New Zealanders. Each of us can contribute to its degradation, but so to can each of us contribute to its regeneration. For me it’s not just about ensuring that future generations can thrive and enjoy the wonders of this country, it’s also about ensuring New Zealand can continue to thrive as a country. Simply put, it’s the right thing to do.
Air New Zealand released a new safety video on Tiaki earlier on this year, how has it played out and how can you use it to influence the industry?
We all play a part in caring for Aotearoa, so it’s vital each of us recognises this when we travel. Air New Zealand’s latest safety video – ‘Tiaki & the Guardians’ inspired by the Tiaki Promise, acts as an invitation for both New Zealanders and international visitors to care for our place, our culture and our people now and for future generations. As we continue to welcome international visitors back to New Zealand and Kiwis continue to explore the spectacular sites of our motu, it’s important they travel with the commitment of the Tiaki Promise in mind. As a participant in Te Kāhui Tautiaki – the group that governs the Tiaki – Care for New Zealand brand, we saw the global reach of our safety videos as a fantastic vehicle to raise awareness of the Tiaki Promise and instil its principles in both international and domestic tourists. And it’s already having impact – within two months of its release the video had clocked up more than 41 million views globally on digital platforms.
How would you summarise the state of our natural capital and what do you think are the most urgent thing/s we/Air New Zealand need to address to preserve it?
The climate and biodiversity crisis continues to accelerate rapidly, and the state of our natural capital, that all New Zealanders depend on so heavily to thrive, is approaching a tipping point that it will become harder and harder to come back from.
The impacts of climate change are already being seen and action must be taken to avoid the worst effects of it. From an Air New Zealand perspective, we are working to increase the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) both in New Zealand and internationally, we’re accelerating the development of zero emissions aircraft technologies and continuing to renew our fleet with more efficient aircraft, to reach our goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It’s continuing to build on our work with partners, like the Department of Conservation and supporting its fantastic work in using the latest science and proven approaches to protecting and regenerating New Zealand’s precious taonga species. It’s also playing our part in making Aotearoa a world-class sustainable visitor destination and recognising that genuine sustainable development outcomes are key to ensuring the long-term success of the tourism industry. To guide us and keep us accountable on our decarbonisation journey, we have also set an interim 2030 science-based carbon reduction target, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Why is the Circle partnership important to Air New Zealand?
Aotearoa Circle provides a valuable forum where top experts from across the public and private sectors can develop and most importantly, implement initiatives to urgently address the already occurring impacts of climate change. Over the years, Air New Zealand has been an active participant in the Aotearoa Circle, including contributing to the Biodiversity Native Forests Report and the Low Carbon Energy Roadmap. In recent months, Air New Zealand has contributed to the development of the Tourism Adaptation Roadmap. This work considers the climate-related physical and transition risks the tourism industry faces in the coming decades. The tourism industry is facing a great deal of change because of the growing impact of climate change. The development and implementation of the adaptation roadmap is critical to future proof tourism in New Zealand and build a resilient sector. Air New Zealand Director Laurissa Cooney was one of the co-chairs for this project.
Collaboration is critical in achieving system change – as a nation and as a Circle, are we collaborating and pulling together enough?
Given our ambitious goals, we are starkly aware that we can’t reach these objectives on our own. The climate and biodiversity crises will never be solved by working in silos. Collaboration with the Government, industry and innovators, and with organisations like the Aotearoa Circle, is critical to ensure the right people are in the room to solve these wicked challenges. The time to debate the science behind the climate and biodiversity crises has long passed. We know the problem and we now must collaborate to solve it. And collaboration can’t just be discussing the issues and coming up with ideas – it needs to be by taking shared action that has real impact.
What’s the most important thing for us all to focus on as we tackle the seemingly impossible/overwhelming environmental and climate challenges ahead?
Turning our words and promises into genuine action is going to be vital. The timeframes we’re working under now to solve these global issues are too tight for anything but real action that shifts the dial on decarbonisation and regenerating our biodiversity. The targets have been set and we’ve developed our roadmaps to reach them. Now it’s the time to bring those goals to life through investment, collaboration, and implementation. New Zealand is an innovative, curious country that is well placed to lead the way on facing these substantial challenges. We have the shared ambitions in place, now we must work together to deliver on them, and at pace.