NZTA Carbon Reduction Opportunities for Infrastructure Visual Guide

presented by Sharon Atkins, Waka Kotahi and Clare Harvey, Beca.

23 October 2025

NZTA’s Carbon Reduction Visual Guide supports the roading sector to implement practical, cost-effective embodied carbon reduction strategies, fostering industry collaboration and accelerating New Zealand’s transition toward a net-zero future.

 Published in May 2025, the visual guide aims to accelerate decarbonisation in New Zealand’s road construction and maintenance, building on NZTA’s ongoing resource efficiency and decarbonisation work.

 The guide was completed in collaboration with Beca and designed as a practical tool to advance the decarbonisation conversation across Aotearoa. The guide consolidates technical research, industry knowledge, and recent NZ case studies into ten initiative cards covering embodied carbon decarbonisation opportunities for roading assets and high-emissions materials. It empowers designers, project managers, and specialists involved in roading infrastructure delivery to consider lower carbon strategies through practical, cost-effective initiatives assessed for feasibility, commercial viability, and environmental impact. The guide simplifies complex information into a visually engaging and accessible resource, fostering widespread industry uptake and collaboration. By leveraging past research commissioned by NZTA and best practice and innovative industry knowledge it aligns with national net-zero goals and informs ongoing updates to standards and specifications.

 In today’s presentation Beca and NZTA will give an insight into the purpose and background to this work, talk through the methodology and how the guide was developed, and give an overview of what’s in the guide, including specific examples of initiatives and case studies.

Bios

Sharon Atkins is a Principal Environmental Specialist at the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, with over 25 years of experience in environmental assessment and management in consultancy and government. In her current role, she provides technical advice on transport emissions and resource efficiency, and develops operational policy, guidance and tools to support emissions assessment and reduction.

Clare Harvey is a Senior Sustainability and Climate Change Advisor at Beca, with over 12 years of experience as a structural engineer and more recently as a sustainability consultant. Clare provides guidance on decarbonisation, resource efficiency, and the integration of broader sustainability principles and climate change considerations into infrastructure projects, and programme and business strategy.
 

Link to cloud recording Passcode: x&JG0&dl