Sustainability on campus

We produced 1,930 tCO₂e from energy consumption in 2024, a
reduction of 35% since 2018. This is largely due to a reduction in
the carbon footprint of grid supplied electricity; it has reduced by
30% since 2018. Also, gas consumption is down by 1 million kWh,
and a further reduction of around 3 million kWh in electricity over
the same period.

We consumed 116,492kL, which is 2% more than our baseline year.
Our newest building, Tukutuku, includes two 30,000kL rainwater
harvesting tanks that are used for flushing toilets and irrigation.
While this will go some way towards reducing demand for mains
water, major investment would be required to have a significant
impact on our water consumption.

Thanks to our waste sorting project, we sent 64% of waste
to landfill in 2024, with the remainder going to recycling and
compost. This is down from 80% of our waste going to landfill in
2018. Since 2018, AUT has achieved a 50% reduction in emissions
(100 tCO₂e) associated with waste to landfill and food waste/
compostables.

We anticipate further improvements in 2025, as we only
commenced waste sorting at North Campus and student
accommodation on City Campus towards the end of the year.
During that period, the recycling/compostables rate increased to
43% overall. We are also testing further waste sorting resources
and holding waste reduction campaigns to encourage behaviour
change amongst our staff and students.

Our annual travel survey showed that 62% of staff and 69% of students
adopt a form of sustainable transport for their regular commute,
including cycling, walking, or public transport.

While these are good results, they remain well below target. We also
noted a marked decline in staff use of sustainable transport (down from
71% in 2023), whilst student use of sustainable transport remained steady
between 2023 and 2024. There were also some significant differences
in travel patterns across the three main campuses. City Campus is well
served by public transport and cycling networks; 71% of staff and 88%
of students adopt sustainable modes. These figures are much lower at
North and South Campuses, where fewer than a third of staff and half of
students use sustainable transport. As well as promoting and providing
facilities to support low-emission travel at each of our campuses, we
continue to advocate with Auckland Transport for improved connectivity
at North and South Campuses.

Organic waste collections are used at the main catering kitchen and cafés and all seven teaching kitchens in the School of Hospitality and Tourism. These divert waste from landfill and create compost. There are also eight worm farms beside the School of Hospitality and Tourism's rooftop garden, processing food waste from the kitchens which is then used on the garden.

The new Kōkihi café at the North Campus is the most sustainable café at AUT, serving meals that include fruit and vegetables grown on campus.

AUT aims for its buildings to have a positive impact on people and the environment.

Tukutuku (the new AZ building at the North Campus, opened in 2024), is the most efficiently heated and cooled tertiary education building in New Zealand and is expected to achieve a 6-star green rating. Sustainable features include 60% of the water used in the building and for irrigation coming from rainwater harvesting.

Some of the sustainability features of our Ngā Wai Hono building (WZ building at the City Campus) include high performance external facades and sun shading to limit energy consumption and improved natural light distribution high efficiency LED lighting with sensors and controls.

Both Tukutuku and Ngā Wai Hono were built on brownfield sites within our existing campuses. Ngā Wai Hono is on the site of a former carpark, and Tukutuku is on the site of an old building.  When we do need a new building, we look to use brownfield sites wherever possible.

Some of the ways we're committing to meeting our targets around sustainable buildings include:

• Identifying a panel of waste contractors that are achieving 80% construction and demolition waste diversion, and working with them to achieve 90%
• Implementing a sustainable building design guide
• Identifying sustainability ratings of regularly purchased furniture items, trialling a re-upholstery initiative for existing AUT furniture and switching upholstery to more sustainable options like 100% NZ wool

Our data centre providers reported on the emissions associated
with our use of Microsoft 365 for the first time in 2024. As a result
our emissions from data have grown from 24 tonnes in 2018 to 70
in 2024. The additional CO₂e emissions are largely related to the
inclusion of Microsoft 365.

With the support of the AUT Estates, the Kin Staff Network planted 400 mānuka seedlings at North Campus to support our native pollinators. The ICT department planted 400 native rush, Apodasmia similis, commonly known as oi oi into a swale (vegetated shallow channel) which helps filter water before it enters the stormwater system. And international students planted 100 Harakeke (New Zealand Flax) and 50 Coprosma Kirkii at North Campus and 100 Mānuka and 50 Harakeke at South Campus. In total, 1,100 native plants and trees were planted by staff and students at AUT’s campuses in 2024.

AUT's campus grounds are open and free for members of the community to explore, and include:

• North Campus:
  • Sensory garden
  • Matariki gardens
• South Campus:
  • Māra kai at the South Campus garden

AUT community gardens

AUT is taking action around sustainable procurement by:

• Implementing sustainable procurement objectives that relate to our suppliers. They include CO₂e emissions, waste, and modern slavery
• Identifying key suppliers where the greatest impact can be achieved
• Engaging with existing key suppliers around AUT’s sustainability journey and our focus on sustainable procurement
• Establishing metrics around our supplier’s waste and CO₂e emissions as phase one of our process
• Supporting Fairtrade products by providing Fairtrade tea and coffee in staff kitchens and only selling Fairtrade coffee in AUT cafés
• Following Supplier Code of Conduct Guidelines. The code standards include labour and human rights, health and safety, environmental sustainability and ethical business. Suppliers must maintain and be able to provide AUT with documentation which demonstrates compliance with this code on request
• Requiring key, new suppliers to provide their annual waste and CO₂e emissions data, as well as information about how they are decreasing waste and CO₂e emissions within their operations