Scaling up sustainability - 14 New projects receive funding from the Community Decarbonisation Fund for 2023

We realise that prioritising decarbonisation is hard for community groups, but we also know that sustainability is a focus for more organisations every day. That’s why we launched the Community Decarbonisation Fund in 2021, to support organisations transition to a low carbon future.

This fund’s designed to take the net proceeds from Certified, which enables Meridian’s business customers to report their market-based Scope 2 emissions as zero*, – and reinvest them into decarbonisation projects.

With 56 applications from community groups all over Aotearoa, our panel had a tough job. We’re delighted to announce 14 community decarbonisation projects for 2023, totalling 964k! This is more than six times the funding that was available in 2022, thanks to our Certified customers.

* Using the market-based reporting methodology as per the GHG Protocol’s Scope 2 Guidance.

Workers installing solar panels

We’re delighted to announce 14 community decarbonisation projects for 2023, totalling 964k!

Congratulations to:

  1. Satisfy Food Rescue – For an EV to collect and redistribute food that’d otherwise go to waste.
  2. Tread Lightly – For an electric van to replace their existing caravan, which shows people how to lower their carbon emissions.
  3. Kairos Food Rescue – For solar on their facility to collect and redistribute food to the community.
  4. Everybody Eats – For an EV to collect and redistribute food that’d otherwise go to waste, through pay-what-you-can restaurants.
  5. Electrifying Conservation – To provide an electric ute for their field crew
  6. Blue Light Youth Driver – For an EV to help youth learn to drive and obtain a full license.
  7. Te Ahi Kaa Training and Social Services Centre – To upgrade their 9-seater van to a 9-seater electric minibus.
  8. Te Kāhu Tiu kōhanga – For solar on their facility supporting and reintegrating young male offenders back into the community.
  9. Ngā Manu Nature Reserve – For solar on their visitor centre, education centre and nocturnal kiwi house.
  10. Rānui Apartments – Providing solar on a home-away-from-home facility for families travelling to Christchurch for life-saving medical treatment.
  11. Kiwi House – For solar on their kiwi house.
  12. Featherston Community Centre – To switch a diesel boiler for an electric one.
  13. Northern Southland Community Pool – To swap diesel boilers for a heat pump.
  14. EquiGEN – For solar on their Christian Centre, with excess power donated to deserving homes.

It’s fantastic to see the fund expanding to a position where we can make decarbonisation more accessible for community groups across the country.

Have you got a community decarbonisation project that needs some funding? Register your interest for this year’s fund.

Here’s one of our 2022 successful applicants, Satisfy Food Rescue:

Electrifying food rescue for Satisfy | Powered by Meridian's Community Decarbonisation Fund

Upbeat music plays, words appear on the screen:

  • Meridian Community Decarbonisation Fund
  • Satisfy Food Rescue logo
  • and the Certified Renewable Electricity Generation logo. 

See Phillipa Hunt, Founder/Chairperson of Satisfy Food Rescue, in the Satisfy Food Rescue warehouse.

Phillipa talks to the camera: So the thing that I personally love about food rescue is it’s this awesome balance between helping reduce food poverty but also helping to reduce food waste. 

See four volunteers in high vis vests checking food dates, surrounded by banana boxes of food in a warehouse.  

See a close up of a box filled with fruit, vegetables and a cake. In the background two volunteers are packing food into boxes. 

See a volunteer carrying a box of food and stacking it on other boxes at the front of the camera. Another three volunteers pack and move boxes from a conveyor which is set up across the middle of the warehouse. Boxes of food are stacked up on both sides of the small warehouse. 

Phillipa continues to speak in the background as the scenes are changing:
"So, it brings these two things together in a beautiful way and I thought well why can’t we do that here in Canterbury. So up to a third of the food produced globally is wasted. It means it is a massive problem. So, if we are able, in a small part, to address that at Satisfy then it has a huge impact on our local community. It also has a really wonderful impact on the people who are doing the work"

See close up of kiwifruit with the video moving to show a large wooden crate full of kiwifruit. 

See the back of an EV Van. A volunteer is inside the van unpacking milk while another volunteer carries a crate full of milk inside the warehouse. 

See Phillipa Hunt talking to the camera. 

See four volunteers in high vis vests checking dates on food in a box on a conveyor belt in the warehouse. 

See a volunteer in front of a scale wearing a Satisfy branded beanie and high vis, making notes while two volunteers continue to pack boxes with vegetables. 

See two volunteers packing green apples from a large wooden crate into brown paper bags. 

See a large office with banana boxes stacked up against the wall. There is a long table in the middle of the room with eight banana boxes filled with food. 

Phillipa continues to speak in the background of changing scenes.
"So the organisations that we support are the likes of foodbanks, community meal providers, schools, preschools. Anyone who is working with those who are facing food insecurity."

See a restaurant pass where a waitress is picking up two plates of food. The waitress has a name tag that says Lana. 

See a close-up of a schoolchild eating baked beans on toast. 

See a kitchen with a large pot of soup being made by a chef. The chef is using a stick blender to mix up the soup. 

See a close up of three bowls of soup being picked up by a waitress from a restaurant kitchen.  There is a thick slice of bread on the edge of each soup bowl. 

Phillipa continues to speak while the following scenes roll through. Phillipa says: "In the last two months we have distributed over 42 tonnes of food, each month."

See a close-up of two boxes full of bread on a shelf. Followed by a close–up of more groceries – donuts, apples, milk cartons in a chiller, tomatoes and then boxes of breakfast cereal. 

See Phillipa Hunt talking to the camera, in a warehouse with volunteers moving boxes of food in the background. Phillipa speaks:

"I just want to say a really big thank you to Meridian’s Community Decarb fund because they basically joined the party when we needed them to and allowed us to purchase a brand spanking new EV van right at the time when we needed it."

See a green and white EV van pulls in to the Satisfy headquarters. Satisfy Food Rescue is written across the side of the van. Meridian and a turbine logo are on the door of the van. “Thanks to Meridian’s Community Decarbonisation Fund” is written across the side of the van."

See the doors open and four volunteers come to the van to start unloading the boxes from the back. One volunteer is inside the back of the van passing boxes out to waiting volunteers. These volunteers move the boxes from the van inside the warehouse. 

Phillipa speaks while the scenes change below. Phillipa says: Because we have this focus on food waste reduction, we are a very environmentally focused organization. So, to be able to have the funds to be able to invest in EV’s is just perfect. 

See close up of the EV van plugged in. 

See two volunteers in high vis shutting the side door of the van. 

See a close-up of the green and white EV van branded with Satisfy Food Rescue pulling out of the driveway. In the background is the warehouse with the side doors open and from a far there are five volunteers in high vis vests packing food into boxes. 

See close up of Phillipa Hunt. Interviewer off screen speaks: And it looks great too. 

Phillipa smiles and speaks to the camera: "Oh, it’s so cool. We love it." 

Upbeat music starts. See screen turn teal and then blue with Meridian logo appearing on the bottom right corner and the words “Meridian. The power to make a difference.” 

Empowering positive change

The Community Decarbonisation Fund is all thanks to our partnership with our Certified Renewable Energy (Certified) customers.  

Certified enables our business customers to match the amount of electricity they use, with an equivalent amount of electricity put into the national grid from one of our hydro stations or wind farms – which have been independently verified as producing 100% renewable electricity. 

All of the net proceeds from the Certified product are used to support electrification projects across Aotearoa. Together, with our Certified customers, we’ve provided more than $1 million in funding for grassroots community projects that reduce carbon emissions and provide a tangible positive impact for many community groups.