Improving the Climate Action Toolbox for small businesses.

Enabling small business to reduce their carbon footprint.

Smaller businesses wanting to reduce their impact on the environment and play their role in reducing carbon emissions often face challenges such as inconsistent information, little that's relevant to their context, and knowledge gaps that make it hard to make progress. Research highlighted these challenges and identified opportunities to address these market shortfalls with an easy-to-use and free tool that tailors actions to the business context.

DNA collaborated with the coalition of partners to design, validate, and build the Climate Action Toolbox—a free, user-friendly online tool to guide small businesses through the process of reducing their carbon footprint. The toolbox is a web-based tool hosted on business.govt.nz and is designed to be regularly enhanced as capability develops.

Climate Action Toolbox 

Key features.

The Climate Action Toolbox focuses on providing ways to help businesses reduce emissions and includes information and links about measuring carbon footprints. Unlike typical carbon tools designed to measure emissions and provide offsetting options, this toolbox recognises that measuring is just one part of what many businesses could do.

The tool covers five key areas: transporting people, transporting goods, office operations, site operations and equipment, and product design and manufacturing. It provides personalised action plans and step-by-step emission reduction guides. For every climate action, there is a detailed guide with links to more information and inspirational stories from Kiwi businesses already taking climate action, sharing their experiences to inspire others.

Users can access a resource library and case studies for practical examples. The tool also includes a carbon footprint calculator and reporting functionality, allowing businesses to quantify their progress and share their action plans with third parties.

Ongoing product development.

The Climate Action Toolbox has been optimised progressively over multiple releases, evolving to meet businesses' changing needs and advancements in climate action strategies.

Our ongoing work includes collecting regular user feedback to identify improvement areas, and collaboration with climate experts to update and expand recommendations.

We continue to develop new features to enhance functionality, refine the user interface based on usage patterns and emerging requirements, and integrate new data sources to improve the accuracy and relevance of advice.

We have also expanded sector-specific guidance to cater to a broader range of industries. This ongoing commitment ensures the toolbox remains a cutting-edge, relevant resource for businesses embarking on their sustainability journey.

Impact.

The Climate Action Toolbox has been developed to help New Zealand's small businesses take immediate, practical steps towards reducing their carbon emissions. By simplifying complex climate concepts and providing tailored guidance, the tool makes sustainable business practices more accessible and achievable for organisations of all sizes

The inclusion of carbon footprint calculation and reporting features further enhances the tool's value, enabling businesses to quantify their progress and communicate their commitment to sustainability to stakeholders.

This project is an example of DNA's ability to tackle complex challenges through collaborative partnerships, user-centred design, and iterative development. It has resulted in a solution that drives positive environmental impact across New Zealand's business landscape.