Our Mountain
Here at The Remarkables we are on a mission to do the best we can by our environment.
This year we have made a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030. We know it’s a big goal, but we’re ready for it – and we’re already part way there.
We’re proudly guided by the concepts of kaitiakitanga (meaning: guardianship and protection) and manaakitanga (meaning: respect, generosity and care). We understand and acknowledge that our environment is the backbone of our operation, and it’s our responsibility to look after it.
We do not take anything we do for granted and our promise to share our passion for the mountain has never felt as important as it does right now, as we begin our journey to carbon neutral by 2030.
ROAD TO CARBON NEUTRAL
The Remarkables belongs to family owned and operated business – NZSki. Our sister mountains are across the valley at Coronet Peak and further north at Methven’s Mt Hutt.
At NZSki our primary greenhouse gas emission sources are diesel fuel - used for grooming and transport - and electricity. Together our three mountains produce approximately 3000 Tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2 only) annually.
To kick start our journey of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, we have committed to reduce net carbon emissions by 50% this season. Here's how we plan to do that;
1. We’ve purchased Meridian Energy’s Certified Renewable Energy product. In conjunction with our emission reduction programs it also means we can report our market-based scope 2 emissions as zero* (our scope 2 emissions are currently reported as over 1000T per annum).
2. Purchasing Carbon Credits from Carbonz – the credits come from native vegetation blocks in the Otago and Canterbury regions; for 2023 this offsets 400T.
3. The continuation of NZSki’s Emission Reduction Initiatives - many of which can be found on this page.
*Using the market-based reporting methodology as per the GHG Protocol’s Scope 2 Guidance.
You’ll notice carbon offsetting is one part of our multi-pronged approach. We know this isn’t a long-term solution and overtime the native trees we plant will begin to sequester carbon, taking over from the credits we purchase. Our most important focus is ensuring we’re doing all we can to minimise our emissions through our carbon reduction initiatives.
To move towards our goal, we are committed to taking advantage of the very best technology available in the industry and this season we will have the opportunity to trial a Diesel-Electric Groomer.
We are always working to do more, but we think this is a pretty good start as we begin our decarbonisation journey. We will continue to keep you posted on our progress.
A Safe Place To Land
We have proudly partnered with Queenstown’s Kea Conservation Trust, as part of a joint initiative for The Remarkables to be a safe place for kea to reside. We provide funds for research, education, and volunteer our time to help monitor kea.
We work with the Trust to catch the birds, measure them, check their blood levels for lead and band their legs so we can monitor their progress once they’re released. We encourage visitors to report any kea sightings at The Remarkables or other spots around the Wakatipu. To date, we’ve managed to catch and band six of the cheeky, healthy parrots.
To help the kea and other birds, we have an extensive trapping system of over 80 traps set up along the access road to eradicate unwanted pests from our mountain. These traps are monitored weekly and have eliminated hundreds of predators including possums, stoats, ferrets and rats.
RESTORE & REGROW
When completing trail developments or adding new infrastructure, such as new chairlifts, to the mountain, we ensure the landscape is restored so we don’t lose any native flora or fauna in the process. Native plants that are removed are propagated while the work is taking place, they’re then brought back to the same area and replanted.
Using this same process we also revegetate other areas on the mountain. We use seed from plants already in our environment to make certain the mountain is planted with flora that is native to, and bred for, our unique alpine conditions. Over the coming years we hope to clear 20ha of non-native flora and revegetate it with native forest. This work is partially funded by the Billion Tree Project, an initiative to see one billion natives planted by 2028.
In summer our team spend time chopping down any wilding pines and other non-native plants from along the access road.
All of the native trees we plant on and around our mountains will begin to sequester carbon in the future, taking over from the credits we purchase.
RECYCLING & COMPOSTING
A portion of our food waste goes to our very own worm farm that we maintain, at the bottom of The Remarkables access road. This season we are also taking post-consumer food waste to an external, commercial composting facility. This significantly reduces the amount of waste we send to landfill. We also have a cardboard bailer, which compacts our cardboard waste on mountain meaning less trips transporting it off the mountain to the recycle centre.
WASTE MINIMISATION
We have been working hard to significantly reduce waste in our café and restaurant through a number of different initiatives. We have also made a commitment to measure the amount of waste that goes to landfill, our compost and our worm farm – this will help us gain better understanding of how we can further successfully make reductions.
90% of the tableware we use (mugs, plates, knives, forks) are either reusable or home-compostable
We’ve outlawed takeaway cups, single use sauce packets, and almost all single use plastic food packaging
The Remarkables are trialling compostable bin liners.
This season we are also part of The Chunky Loan Cup System – guests can pay $10 for a cup they can keep either keep, return for a $10 refund or swap it for a clean one next time they grab a coffee.
TRANSPORT
We encourage all our guests to ride-share or take our Ski Bus up the mountain to reduce the amount of trips taken per season. One bus can offset 50-60 car trips. Snow Riders NZ is a great place to find mates to share a lift up the hill with. This season we are also tracking fuel efficiency across our vehicle fleet to encourage efficient driving practices in vehicles and grooming.
SNOW ON THE GO
Our snowmaking machines are the best in business meaning they're energy efficient when using both power and water to make snow. The water used is from our snowmaking reservoirs and these are filled from natural sources such as rain or snow melt.
Our fleet of groomers use a clever SNOWsat pogramme. This technology measures snow depth on our main trails and allows us to groom slopes more efficiently by only targeting snowmaking where it’s needed. This system means 15% less power and diesel used when grooming our slopes.
This season we will also be trialling a diesel-electric groomer.