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Sustainability
Kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga, made tangible.
Hawke's Bay's pioneering electric-first luxury touring operation, powered by one of the world's cleanest electricity grids.
Our foundation
At Electric Executive, sustainability is not a brand position. It is the foundation of everything we do. We measure our emissions every quarter, publish them here, and commission an independent greenhouse gas inventory every year.
Guided by the Māori values of kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the land) and manaakitanga (care for guests and community), we operate Hawke's Bay's electric-first luxury touring fleet. These values are not additions to the guest experience. They are the experience.
- Great Wine Capitals Best Of Wine Tourism Award of Excellence, Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices, 2026 and 2027. Read more.
- Qualmark Silver, Sustainable Tourism Business, awarded November 2025 under a GSTC-recognised framework. Our rating is listed on newzealand.com, Tourism New Zealand's official site.
- Air New Zealand Official Taxi Partner for Hawke's Bay.
- Tiaki Promise. We are committed to caring for New Zealand, for now and for future generations.
Clean energy
An electric-first fleet
Guests travel by electric vehicle by default, carried with zero tailpipe emissions across every EV tour and transfer. The BYD Atto 3, Mercedes-Benz eVito and Tesla Model Y are fully electric.
New Zealand's electricity grid runs at more than 90% renewable, with overnight charging periods regularly exceeding 96% renewable generation (Q4 2025: 96.4%). We charge off-peak from 22:00 New Zealand time, which lowers emissions intensity and supports grid efficiency. Every kilometre our EVs travel is powered almost entirely by wind, hydro and geothermal energy.
Our diesel Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is retained for large-group and long-distance jobs that current EV range cannot yet serve. We measure and report its emissions in full, and our long-term goal is a fully electric fleet as vehicle range continues to improve. See the fleet.
Emissions avoided: using DEFRA 2024 UK Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors (0.237 kg CO₂e per km for an average medium diesel van), our electric kilometres deliver a direct, measurable reduction in tailpipe emissions compared with any equivalent diesel touring operation.
Partnership
Air New Zealand Official Taxi Partner
Electric Executive is Air New Zealand's official taxi partner in Hawke's Bay, the only regional provider to hold this partnership. Our executive taxis are fully electric, which brings a zero tailpipe emission transport option to every domestic and international visitor arriving in the region, and supports Air New Zealand and Hawke's Bay Airport in meeting their emissions-reduction goals through sustainable procurement.
That a major national organisation with rigorous sustainability standards selects an electric-first provider is, for us, proof that premium electric transport requires no compromise.
Environmental management
Zero-waste provisioning
We design onboard provisioning to eliminate single-use plastic and keep materials in use. Our largest measured indirect impact is onboard guest supplies, and we are actively reducing it through bulk provisioning and reusable packaging.
- Glass water bottles. Locally sourced artisanal water in glass, recycled after use through New Zealand's kerbside glass stream.
- Snack jars cleaned and reused. We bulk-purchase snacks and serve them from glass jars that we wash and reuse.
- No single-use plastic. We do not provide single-use plastic bottles, cups or packaging on board.
- Sourced within 5 kilometres. We source in-vehicle amenities within 5 kilometres of our Havelock North base, including One Pure glass-bottled water and Te Mata Figs.
- End of life. We return soft plastics through the New Zealand Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme and recycle tyres through Tyrewise.
- In-vehicle device charging. Guests keep devices powered without disposable batteries or accessories.
Carbon commitment
Offsetting locally: Hōhepa Hawke's Bay
We measure our carbon footprint every quarter using actual operating data, and Future Proof Projects, an independent sustainability consultancy, prepares our full inventory each year. Rather than purchasing anonymous offshore carbon offsets, we direct the equivalent cost to a partner whose impact we can see, visit and share with our guests: the Hōhepa Hawke's Bay native plant nursery.
Established in 1957, Hōhepa Hawke's Bay is a not-for-profit organisation supporting people with intellectual disabilities to live life to the fullest, guided by its vision of "every life fully lived". Across its biodynamic farm and gardens, dairy, craft studios and native plant nursery in Clive, sustainability, meaningful work and community connection make a lasting difference in people's lives. At the nursery, the team works alongside the people Hōhepa supports to raise native plants from locally sourced seed. Those plants go into reforestation, wetland restoration and biodiversity programmes across the region. Guests on our Artisan Producers Tour can visit Hōhepa by arrangement, explore the farm and studios, and finish with a tasting of its award-winning organic cheeses.
Our FY2025/26 footprint of 11.4 tonnes CO₂e is what 51 native trees and shrubs would absorb over 50 years of growth, on the Tāne's Tree Trust National Carbon Calculator (25% tall trees, 75% shrubs). In 2026 we funded $1,000 of eco-sourced natives from Hōhepa's nursery, about 168 young plants, more than three times that benchmark. We are moving from offsetting our footprint to regenerating the landscape, alongside a nursery that has already put more than 90,000 natives into Hawke's Bay.
One partnership, three outcomes: measurable climate action, restored native biodiversity, and meaningful work for the people Hōhepa supports. 100% of the funding stays in Hawke's Bay.
Measured impact
Our greenhouse gas inventory.
Future Proof Projects, an independent sustainability consultancy, prepares our annual greenhouse gas inventory across Scope 1, 2 and 3, following the GHG Protocol and the Ministry for the Environment Measuring Emissions emission factors. FY2025/26 figures are the final full-year inventory, published October 2026.
| Scope 1: direct combustion | 0 kg CO₂e |
|---|---|
| Scope 2: EV grid charging | 935 kg CO₂e |
| Scope 3: supplies, maintenance, logistics | 725 kg CO₂e |
| Total | 1,660 kg CO₂e |
| Scope 1: diesel Sprinter, introduced this year | 5,023 kg CO₂e |
|---|---|
| Scope 2: EV grid charging | 712 kg CO₂e |
| Scope 3: indirect, including subcontracted transport | 5,647 kg CO₂e |
| Total | 11,382 kg CO₂e |
| Scope 1: Sprinter diesel | 3,170 kg CO₂e |
|---|---|
| Scope 2: BYD Atto 3 and eVito charging, NZ grid | 164 kg CO₂e |
| Scope 3: transmission, subcontractors, AI processing | 654 kg CO₂e |
| Total to 30 September 2026 | 3,988 kg CO₂e |
The fleet was fully electric in FY2024/25, so Scope 1 was zero. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter joined the fleet in FY2025/26 to serve larger groups, introducing a Scope 1 diesel component for the first time. In FY2025/26, as the business grew, diesel from the Sprinter and subcontracted vehicles made up about four fifths of our footprint, while emissions from charging our electric fleet fell 24% and commercial car-wash emissions fell 80% after we moved to low-water washing. Diesel is therefore our clearest reduction opportunity: we give work to electric subcontractors first and plan to replace the Sprinter with an electric van. FY2026/27 figures come from our accounts: we convert diesel and charging spend to litres and kilowatt-hours, so they capture every kilometre, including repositioning between jobs. Scope 3 breakdown to 30 September 2026: grid transmission and distribution losses (11.77% NZ loss rate) 19 kg, owner-driver subcontractor vehicles 510 kg, AI processing tools 125 kg. Annual inventory by Future Proof Projects using MfE 2026 and Thinkstep ANZ factors. FY2026/27 figures are our own quarterly calculation, updated to 30 September 2026.
Cultural grounding
Māori values in the guest experience
Our sustainability story begins with place. Hawke's Bay, Te Matau a Māui, takes its name from the fish hook of the demigod Māui, the hook that hauled the North Island from the ocean, and the same constellation that guided the earliest navigators to Aotearoa.
We are proud partners of Ātea a Rangi, the Māori celestial compass in Hawke's Bay, which opens our Great Wine Capital Discovery tour. We are co-developing a visitor experience around this living taonga, connecting guests to a thousand years of celestial navigation knowledge. This is a living partnership with tangata whenua, not heritage tourism.
Kaitiakitanga: we are guardians of this place, accountable to those who shaped it and those who will inherit it. Our electric fleet is the visible expression of that obligation.
Manaakitanga: to care for a guest is to lift their mana. Caring for the guest and caring for the land are not in tension. They are the same act.
We are also developing the Coastal Studio Tour with Te Awanga artist Sonia Chrystal, mentoring the venture at no charge and providing transport and hosting, and we actively support Cape Sanctuary with visitor experience development.
Beyond emissions
Community contributions
- Hastings Girls' High School. We organise familiarisation visits for Level 2 Tourism students, giving hands-on experience with regional accommodation and tourism operators. We also mentor students through the Young Enterprise Scheme.
- Lucknow Kindergarten. We provide our fleet for children's community outings on a regular basis. We donated a Luxury Hawke's Bay Wine Tour Experience as a main prize in the 2026 Mega Raffle, which raised $6,800 for new heaters and outdoor improvements.
- Volunteer Fire Brigade. During severe weather evacuations, we provided our van for community evacuations.
We pay every host well above the New Zealand Living Wage. Meet the team and our regional partners.