Sustainability

The New Zealand Automobile Association has been guiding New Zealanders through life’s journeys for more than 115 years.

Founded in 1903 the Association began with a focus on roadside assistance and advocating for driver safety and motorists’ interests, before evolving into new areas where it can be relevant in the lives of Members, and indeed all New Zealanders.

Those areas are as diverse as insurance, finance and travel benefits, meaning there are now more services and benefits than ever before for more than 1.8 million Members.

We understand that for those Members ensuring the Association puts sustainability at its core, by acting to improve the communities and environment in which we operate, is vital.

That’s why we look at everything we do with a sustainability lens to ensure our activities demonstrate the care we show for our Environment, investment in our Community by ensuring safer roads and drivers, fostering a diverse and inclusive AA through our Culture, and that our Operations use only what is needed, reducing our energy consumption and recycling where we can.

Sustainability challenges rely on all of us to play our part, and only by working together can we bring about transformational change.

Our 2030 goals are:

Promote information and ideas for our Members to first reduce their carbon footprint, and then improve their fuel and energy efficiency to offset any outstanding balance.
Provide community funding that will help increase road safety, lower the road toll and promote safe driving practices across all demographics.
Work with suppliers on sustainability initiatives including rigorous supply chain checks, and significantly reduce single use plastic in products that we retail.
Promote Health and Wellbeing services and benefits for our Members to improve community health outcomes.
Advocate at all times for safer roads, safer cars and safer drivers.
Strive to become a zero-harm workplace.
Ensure diversity and inclusion across all functions and business areas.
Introduce a formal programme of reduced energy consumption including electricity emissions, travel emissions, transport emissions, and paper savings.
Promote our affiliation-free emergency service to all New Zealanders (for all animals and children trapped in vehicles).

Our Environment

We’re focused on Delivering sustainable Member opportunities, Providing Renewable Energy Mobility assistance and advice, and fuel efficiency information, and Using more sustainable products, materials and packaging.

We’ve joined with EECA’s Gen Less campaign to show the ongoing action we’ll be taking to live and work in more climate-friendly ways and also provide practical tips, tools and ideas for how our Members might do more with less.

We've also added roadside assistance to motorhomes, motorbikes, mobility scooters, electric vehicles and e-bikes.

AA Battery Service has introduced a new mobile EV charge service to support AA Members who have been “caught short” on their journeys.

The AA is a founding member and sits on the Governance Group of The Battery Industry Group, a cross-industry collaboration designing reuse and recycling solutions for large batteries, usually found in electric vehicles or in stationary energy storage.

AA Motoring Services also offers service and repair, vehicle inspections pre-purchase inspections, WoF and an end-to-end importation service for electric and hybrid vehicles. AA’s Motoring experts enable Members to make informed decisions about their car choices from plug-in hybrids, EVs, and the lowest-emitting petrol cars on the market.

Meanwhile, our procurement policy provides for rigorous checks of the manufacturing supply chain and the use of single use plastics for all new products we retail at our 36 AA Centres nationwide.

Reusable AA Bags and drink bottles, and a sustainable packaging programme will see a range of new products sold with minimal packaging, to help our Members lead more sustainable lives.

Lastly, AA Directions has joined the Soft Plastics Recycling scheme, which ensures soft plastics are directed to a productive end such as making farm fence posts. AA Members are encouraged to drop the soft plastic wrap covering of AA Directions magazine to an official soft plastic collection bin or their local AA Centre where the team will ensure it’s delivered to the Scheme.

Our Community

We’re focused on Ensuring safer drivers and roads through a significant Road Safety Member Benefit, Rescuing children and pets in a free nationwide service, and Encouraging employee volunteering and giving.

The Association supports senior Members by providing a free confidence-building session once every two years. A programme for new drivers is also under review, with plans to relaunch an updated and improved programme in 2021.

AA Driving School also partners with government agencies to help prepare low decile students for their learner licence test and to address access issues.

The Association is the principal sponsor of SADD (Students Against Dangerous Driving) with $400,000 funding each year. Meanwhile, the AA Research Foundation has received $2.5m in funding to sponsor vital road safety research projects.

With more than 700 children and 600 pets locked in cars each year, the AA attends locked vehicles free of charge, regardless of whether the caller is an AA Member or not. We also provide lockout assistance to the SPCA.

We also fund AA Roadservice to provide free mechanical assistance for the former Variety Bash car charity rally, now the Trillian Trek, which has been raising money for Kiwi kids for 30 years, and each year volunteers eagerly step forward.

Finally, the Association fosters a culture that supports employee volunteering, including the offering of professional pro bono services, and employee fundraising.

As an example of an employee-led initiative, in early 2021 it was discovered many AA first aid kits had just one product in them due to expire. The item was removed from the kits and then via an AA employee's Rotary Club, the kits were donated to De Paul House, a North Shore-based housing and support services provider.

Our Culture

We’re focused on Supporting the health safety and wellbeing of our people, Creating a culture of inclusion that recognises the contributions of our diverse community, and Offering a great employee experience and career pathways.

Our goal is a zero harm workplace for our people, with a safety-first approach on the road, AA Centres, sites and offices nationwide.

In the past four years the number of incidents resulting in employees taking time off work has reduced by almost 60 percent.

The Association also cultivates a safe environment by having zero tolerance for harassment, bullying and discrimination.

We support flexible working, offer domestic violence leave, and promote our mental, physical, emotional and financial wellbeing programmes.

Our Operations

We’re focused on Reducing our mobility carbon footprint, Decreasing our energy consumption and recycling our resources, and Partnering with experts to ensure a successful Sustainability programme.

Our fleet management programme ensures low and no emission vehicles are placed to the fore as replacements are needed, and work continues with service delivery partners who are pioneering the move to electric vehicles.

We are also working with companies like ZeroC, a Wellington-based fully electric Cab company that run a fleet of Hyundai Ioniq electric vehicles so our people can make meetings while also meeting their carbon budget commitments.

With two corporate offices and a network of 36 AA Centres and 39 AA Auto Centres nationwide we are focused on energy reduction and recycling programmes in our operations. That includes making the switch to energy-efficient LED lighting, working with Recytech, a New Zealand company that recycles our IT equipment to charities, small businesses and schools, embracing flexible working, video conferencing and reducing office paper.

The AA is working with the FIA’s Environmental Accreditation programme, which offers a certification framework, to measure and improve our environmental performance.

The FIA programme will focus on energy use, water use, waste management, transport/commuting, noise, air quality and carbon management and provide a framework against which to accredit activities.