Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability - from waste minimisation to responsible use of precious natural resources, is integral to realising Auckland Zoo’s mission, To bring people together to build a future for wildlife. Our use of the planet’s limited natural resources are directly linked to the health of wildlife, of wild spaces and the current and future health and well-being of humans.

Our ongoing journey to operate and evolve sustainably as an organisation across all our Zoo operations is one of our seven strategic commitments. 

A key part of this journey is working with our communities and partners to catalyse positive action for our environment and thereby deliver a much larger impact working collectively, than we could ever achieve just on our own.

Our sustainability efforts are focused on responding to key local and global environmental issues – like climate change, habitat destruction and degradation, unsustainable consumption of natural resources, and pollution.

He kapanga manawa o te taiao, he kapanga manawa o te tangata
The heartbeat of nature, is the heartbeat of people

Walking the Talk

Waste minimisation

Auckland Zoo has a comprehensive waste management system that results in 85% of our waste being diverted from landfill, and we are continually working to better this.

The majority of the Zoo’s waste is diverted to various forms of organic waste processing, followed by different recycling streams. To ensure that waste materials generated by our visitors are correctly disposed of with no contamination, we hand-sort waste on-site before it is collected for final disposal or processing.

Having less waste going to landfill reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. In further efforts to reduce waste to landfill, we’re excited to share that single use cups (SUCs) will be going for good from all of our café outlets by the end of 2025. Making long life reusable cups our ‘go to’ will prevent more than 170,300 SUCs going to landfill each year. We’re also working hard to find an alternative solution to the SUCs we use for cold drinks.

Climate change

Human induced climate change is arguably the single biggest global issue that threatens the health and future of Te Taiao - our natural world, including us.

Because it is such a highly complex and contentious subject, it can often feel entirely overwhelming, something completely outside of our control and therefore something that sometimes is easier for us all to try and ignore and forget about.   

Therefore, one of the most important climate actions we can all take is to become ‘climate curious’ and have more climate conversations at home, school and work. Increasing our own understanding will help us to break down barriers and enable us to learn about climate change and the things we can all do help tackle it.

What the Zoo is doing

Auckland Zoo has been a Toitū net carbon zero certified organisation since 2016, and each year we measure and monitor the Zoo’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Some of our highest emissions relate to the complex habitats we maintain for the various animals in our care, which require specific climatic conditions and need to run 24/7, 365 days a year. Water pumps and filtration, refrigeration technology, heating units, life support systems, specialist veterinary equipment and electric fencing all contribute to the energy intensity of the Zoo.

Understanding our emissions profile continues to help us identify priority areas that will contribute to reducing our environmental footprint. As part of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, we’re working to reduce our emissions in line with Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri: Auckland's Climate Plan.

For those emissions we can’t reduce, we purchase high quality carbon credits from New Zealand Forest sink projects that have biodiversity conservation and native forest restoration as co-benefits.