Mike Casey, chief executive of the non-profit charity Rewiring Aotearoa, recently won the transformational leadership award in the Sustainable Business Awards.
The awards, now in their 22nd year, moved from 10 categories to two this year — disruptive innovation and transformational leadership.
Speaking for the judges, Barry Coates, founder and chief executive of Mindful Money, said Mr Casey was a powerful advocate for the transition to an electric-powered economy, shifting the conversation around sustainability and actions to achieve it.
"Mike’s work is a testament to the viability of electrification at scale. His all-electric cherry orchard not only demonstrates the practical steps for lowering emissions but also proves these changes make sound business sense. Mike has been a tireless advocate for electrifying everything."
His approach to challenge established science and demonstrate change was "an impressive step" towards a paradigm shift in the energy and transmission sector, he said.
Mr Casey and his wife Rebecca swapped their big city lives in Sydney for rural Central Otago when they established their Mt Pisa cherry orchard Forest Lodge Orchard in 2019. Annually, the orchard saves $50,000 in energy costs and about 50 tonnes of emissions.
Auckland-based Lodestone Energy, which won the disruptive innovation award, leads the country’s grid-scale solar market, disrupting the traditional energy landscape with its solar farms that provide 100% renewable electricity.
Spout Milk, which had its origins in Dunedin, received a commendation in the disruptive innovation category; Spout was formed in 2019 to put milk into kegs and reduce the number of plastic milk containers used in cafes.
The initiative was initially piloted at Dunedin cafe The Corner Store and it was now used by cafes, hotels and corporate clients throughout the South Island.
Earlier this year, it reached the milestone of stopping more than 100,000 plastic milk containers from being thrown away, and it also calculated it had saved more than 16,000kg of emissions.
Transformational leadership commendations were also awarded to Debbi and Paul Brainerd, from the Headwaters Eco Lodge, at Glenorchy, and KiwiHarvest founder Deborah Manning, who championed the creation of the New Zealand Food Network.
