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Reducing our carbon footprint

The staff and associates of the Institute of Policy Studies are very conscious of the need to reduce our carbon footprint. For some time we have been endeavouring to reduce our impact with actions such as turning off lights when out of rooms, printing on both sides of paper as well as recycling waste paper, and using stairs instead of lifts. However, like most research institutions, conferences, seminars and roundtables are a key part of our work and will continue to be so in the near future. Where possible we are now using video conferencing and will continue to explore ways of making this more viable. However, we will continue to need to undertake some air travel, both nationally and internationally, including sponsoring others to attend our meetings. In recognition of this, as from October 2009 we are purchasing carbon offsets for all IPS related air travel. We are doing this through the CarboNZero programme of offsets. While we are not seeking full CarbonNZero certification program, we will be purchasing native forest regeneration offsets. When these are not available through CarboNZero we will utilise their other two forms of offset: landfill gas and windfarms.