The Holyoake group is, if nothing else, diverse. The Holyoake Group as it is now known began in 1953 as a heating contractor and oil supplier. The Group now has interests in HVAC and Air Distribution as well as Marine Engines & Parts Distribution, Motor Vehicle Servicing, Property Investment, Farming and Forestry with 200 personnel actively employed throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The company both imports and exports raw materials and finished products through its many and varied operations. With all this activity you would expect the companies carbon footprint to tread heavily on the environment. But this is not the case. In 1988 the Directors of Holyoake recognised the export potential and long term investment value of forestry.

The forestry sector is one of New Zealand's top export earners and contributes substantially to reducing the country's greenhouse emissions. The Holyoake Forestry Group now holds 5 properties that have been developed into plantation forests. These properties, known as "Pine Oaks", "Twin Oaks", "Titoki", "Waiotira" and "Gisborne" are forested with genetically selected radiata pine trees.

The Holyoake Group has implemented its own environmental policy which requires a total commitment to exceptional standards of performance by combining economic growth with sound environmental management. The Holyoake Group will achieve our environmental objective by meeting the needs of Employees, Consumers, Customers and society in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.

Our key environmental objectives and actions are: (extract of the Holyoake Environmental Policy)

Objectives

• Comply with all applicable environmental legislation, codes of practice, and Holyoake's environmental policies and standards.
• Identify and evaluate the environmental impacts of our products, services & seek to eliminate, control or minimise their impact.
• Set annual targets for improvement, implement environmental management programs to address significant environmental aspects
• Train and educate all management and employees to understand their roles and responsibilities for good environmental awareness.
• Seek to reduce waste, conserve resources in particular water and energy and explore every opportunity for waste re-use and/or recycling.
• Work with suppliers, employees and customers and participate with relevant industry to achieve environmental improvements.
• Continue to actively participate in Community programs that support sound environmental and ecological activities.

Actions

• Continue to develop air diffusion technology that has sustainable and significant long term energy savings.
• Committed to environmentally sound business practices. All of our production facilities across Australia and New Zealand recycle raw materials. All design and production methods include criteria for economical use of raw materials to minimise waste.
• To work closely with local water authorities to ensure compliance with waste water management regulations.
• Develop further our Plantation forest timber as a renewable resource of natural building product that requires relatively low energy to process.
• Continue to improve our plantation forests, eradicating pests and enhancing the regional habitat.
• Continue to invest time and resources in assisting the education of youth and supporting environmentally beneficial programs.

Our Company wide philosophy is to reduce our carbon foot print, our plantations provide a carbon sink that further reduces our carbon emissions profile and has been calculated to result in the Holyoake Group not only being Carbon zero or neutral, we are in fact Climate Positive!

Click here to download the Holyoake Industries - Environmental Policy document.