About

Quakebake (founded in 2005) is a small certified organic artisan bakery creating biscotti, gingerbreads, cakes / slices and savoury crackers, with some products being gluten free and/or containing NZ-indigenous ingredients. Affordable indulgences suitable as gifts or simply to enjoy yourself. The products are New Zealand wide distributed through speciality shops, the hospitality industry or through the online shop on the Quakebake website.

Quakebake sees taking part in the carboNZero programme as a natural extension of being a certified organic producer. We can't solely wait for governments and big companies to solve the problem for us, when in fact everyone needs to rethink the way we consume, since this has a major bearing on the carbon footprint of each person.

Quite naturally people tend to resist change in the early stages, no matter how clear the evidence. Sometimes it is hard to see the huge opportunities which can come with change. It is a mere 100 years ago in 1905 the German Emperor Wilhelm II made the following statement: "I believe in the horse. The automobile is only a passing phenomenon." Unthinkable what would have happened to the German economy had the Germans listened to their leader at the time!

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Strategy

Quakebake is committed to reducing its carbon footprint per production unit on an ongoing basis.

To achieve this, Quakebake signed up as a participant to Landcare Research's carboNZero programme. This science-based programme provides guidelines, tools and frameworks through which verified carbon neutrality can be achieved in an efficient and reliable manner. A particularly important advantage for small manufacturers like Quakebake, otherwise lacking the resources to do this work.

The core principals are to measure, minimize and then mitigate the carbon dioxide emissions. Quakebake has now been doing this for nearly three years. As a very small artisan producer there are fortunately not very high emissions to deal with. The main sources being electricity, petrol and courier related emissions from road freight.

The core principals are to measure, minimize and then mitigate the carbon dioxide emissions. Quakebake has now been doing this for nearly three years.

As a very small artisan producer there are fortunately not very high emissions to deal with. The main sources being electricity, petrol and courier related emissions from road freight

Whenever possible, Quakebake uses suppliers which already account for their emissions (on the assumption that this will encourage them to lower theirs as much and as fast as possible).

Such suppliers are still rare, and only the electricity can be sourced completely this way so far (by using Meridian Energy - the company produces only renewable electricity, e. g. with hydro or wind power).

The courier company is currently working on their own carbon footprint programme, so for the meantime Quakebake records all distances and weights and calculates the impact according to the carboNZero guidelines.

The only major input where no alternative supplier can be used at this stage is petrol (bar the NZ government regulations in regards to blending biofuels into regular fuel). Therefore Quakebake records the annual consumption of petrol and calculates the impact according to the carboNZero guidelines.

The calculated total is then offset with carbon credits purchased from EBEX21 (regeneration
of native forests - Quakebake prefers to support sensible offsets from within New Zealand, being the source of the emissions).

Just recording all the emissions in the various areas leads to increased awareness of them, and subsequently a conscious usage pattern. For example car trips get optimised by bundling and scheduling tasks in such a way that one trip covers numerous tasks whenever possible. Trips under 2 km are usually done by bicycle, except when transporting bulk goods or ingredients.

Further potential for minimization is achieved by using modern equipment of low energy consumption ratings and where possible from a New Zealand manufacturer (e.g. baking ovens, refrigeration). Other features are energy saving light bulbs, solar heated water, double glazing and proper insulation of the building.

Furthermore recycling all of the recyclable materials, including composting all organic matter from the bakery, and timely and proper maintenance of the equipment helps to lower emissions (e. g. door seals of the refrigeration, car maintenance, esp. tyre pressure and engine configuration).

Currently no measures are in place to account for historical (e. g. building of the production rooms of Quakebake) and third party emissions (especially in the production of the used raw ingredients and their transportation to the Quakebake premises).

This is one of the reasons why Quakebake prefers to buy ingredients as local as possible. However this cannot always be achieved, because in many cases there is significant extra cost for NZ-made ingredients (e. g. maize meal, hazelnuts, etc.). Raw material cost is a major barrier in general, further exacerbated by the current global food price increases, which seem to be partly driven by undue speculation, and rather require international measures beyond company strategy levels to moderate
the effects.

A presumably temporary, but nevertheless currently significant second barrier is in the slow uptake for carbon consciously produced foods by the consumer. It is a rarely discussed issue, but casually expressed, the consumer cannot taste carbon consciousness or neutrality, nor does he save money in this area (as he would with an energy saving light bulb or through petrol savings with a hybrid car). Similarly the hospitality industry is shying away from it for similar reasons. A Quakebake cookie on a dinner plate in a restaurant or in a counter top jar in a cafe becomes anonymous after unwrapping and it seems not practical to expect the hospitality industry to communicate the carbon neutral status of such products. A waiter or barista will much more likely be expected/required to talk to customers about taste/flavours or food and wine matches, rather than carbon neutrality and climate change. So,
again it is beyond a tiny company like Quakebake to change the markets currently dominating perceptions. It does show, the concept of carbon neutrality is still in its infancy. The third barrier comes in the form of the creditability of certifications for carbon neutrality and the attached carbon credits. There are more and more options to choose from, but they do vary significantly in their creditability. As long as the consumer hasn't got a common understanding and easy means of how to judge carbon
neutrality claims, it will be difficult for a small company to generate a marketing advantage, when a competitor can "achieve" seemingly the same for less cost. Quakebake faces this issue already with its organic certification, since an unregulated use of the word "organic" is allowed to take place in New Zealand. Both certifications would need an adequate legal framework to start with. Clearly something that cannot be addressed on a company level, whatever the strategy.

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