Climate Action Marlborough

Kate Wilkinson had always been curious about plant-based eating, but the idea of giving up her favourite meals felt overwhelming. One evening, after watching a documentary about sustainability, she decided to dive in overnight—swapping out everything at once. Exciting at first, but within weeks, she found herself exhausted, missing the flavours she loved, and unsure what to cook. Determined not to give up, Kate tried a new approach: Meatless Mondays. A single day of plant-based eating felt manageable, and soon, she looked forward to trying new recipes. Then, she shifted her focus—cutting out dairy at home while still allowing herself flexibility when dining out. Small, steady changes made all the difference. Today, she’s found her balance, following the One Category at a Time method to fully transition at her own pace. The journey wasn’t about perfection—it was about progress. Have you tried reducing meat and dairy? What approach worked best for you? Share your experience in the comments! #PlantBasedLiving #SmallStepsBigImpact #MeatlessMonday #SustainableEating #YourJourneyYourPace

As I track down the Kaikoura coastline and reflect on the week, I have realised that Climate Action Week Marlborough isn’t about water, biodiversity, energy, waste, innovation, carbon, finance, nature or any of big topics we’ve explored. It’s about HUMANS and the human connection, feeling a deep sense of belonging, self reflection, being part of a community, feeling heard, seen and valued. As we sat around together as the week wrapped up sharing gratitude, it’s the connection of a communities energy that makes this so much more than Climate Action Marlborough, it’s a knowing that each and every one of us are there for each other and that is RESILIENCE. Thanks to everyone who joined us this week in the region and to a year ahead of creating ripples in our sphere of influence. Yealands Wine Group ASB Bank New Zealand King Salmon OneFortyOne Blenheim Toyota

Repost is struggling as wineries can’t provide their CCA broken stockpiles due to budgetary restraints. We are a unfortunate casualty of the times…. and it looks we will be closing in the coming months if nothing changes…. When in this same moment we’re hussling for winery work we get sent these pictures from farmers showing gratitude and happiness at our resource helping them it honestly guts the team to know this resource soon may be gone…the battens, fence posts and strainers you see were once on a winery!! So wineries one last plea if you have stock, can open up budget please do. And if not thank you for helping the 1000’s of farmers and supporting the sustainable CCA winery waste solution while we existed…. Please spread the word!

Imagine if we treated energy like food—how much do we really need? For decades, we’ve focused on switching to renewables, but what if the real solution is using less energy in the first place? We are binge energy users, consuming up to 70 times more than our ancestors. Lindsay Wood challenges us to rethink energy resilience: not just where it comes from, but how much we actually need. Cutting back might be easier than we think—and the planet will thank us for it. Where can you start reducing your energy use today? Let’s talk!  #EnergyResilience #ClimateAction #LessIsMore

Yealands’ solar story is a fantastic example of innovation in action—showing how sustainability and business success go hand in hand.  Excited to see how Marlborough continues to lead the way!

Sharing photos as a way to tell a story. The story of Climate Action Marlborough began three years ago with the intention to bring diverse organisations across diverse industries together to collectively drive down our carbon emissions to create a thriving ecosystem for our community, but it’s become so much more than that. In this story you will see viticulture, growers, engineers, energy, mobility, supply chain and sustainability teams come together to listen, learn, work together and solve problems with meaningful solutions. As we went around the room this morning to hear from everyone about a reflection of the year I was so happy to hear from wise, intelligent, diverse thought leaders and so so proud of the leaps and bounds our community is taking. This is just day two and already feeling so fuelled by the activity of this week so far. Yealands Wine Group New Zealand King Salmon ASB Bank OneFortyOne Blenheim Toyota

In 24 hours Marlborough has gone from balmy 28 degree days down to 18 and back in front of the fire. Another amazing day, connecting, sharing, growing, learning, listening and feeling a deep sense of belonging in a business community that makes my heart sing and a community I am so very proud of. Climate Action Marlborough If I look back on some of our first climate gatherings three years ago we were going scope ‘what’ and now we are far and beyond scopes, connecting on Carbon, energy, waste, biodiversity, diverse land use, nature based solutions and systems change. We’ve come along way heheh Thanks to all the wonderful people who brought todays learnings to life Jonathan Foley Diana Patricia Cruz Oliveros Michelle Barry Tracy Taylor jamie sigmund Liz Webb and for Pyramid Farms and Southern Valley Viticulture to open their Waihopai Valley gates for us to learn about diverse and regenerative approaches to viticulture and diversity of land use with sheep and beef, forestry, carbon and natives all integrated into one harmonious system. I particularly enjoyed having Damien O’Connor contributing to our collaboration sessions where we worked on meaningful solutions to creating a future vision for what Marlborough would be known for in the future being a biodiverse, premium brand “Marlborough” that prioritises land use with diversity including food to create resilient food systems for our community. Thanks to Blenheim Toyota Scott McDermid and the Hybrid Prius for getting us up and down the valley which gladly didn’t bawk on the gravel off roads.

It’s inspiring to see how much can be achieved in just 90 minutes when diverse minds come together with a shared purpose. 

This roundtable discussion on where to focus when decarbonising is such a crucial topic—prioritising the right actions can make all the difference. 

A crucial conversation for the future of NZ wine!