Claudia Grave once stood in the pouring rain outside Wellington’s Mt Victoria tunnel, counting the number of empty seats in passing vehicles.
About 1.4 million Kiwis drive to work each day, and most of them travel alone.
Grave’s company, Hitch, is trying to change that with software to help businesses measure, report and reduce commuting-related carbon emissions, and an app that makes car-pooling more convenient.
Its goal is a cleaner, greener society with fewer cars on the road and healthier, more connected communities.
Head girl at St Hilda’s Collegiate in 2012, Grave was also awarded an Otago Daily Times Class Act award for her leadership skills and achievements in rowing. After gaining commerce and applied science degrees, she worked as a management consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Wellington, where she met business partner Todd Foster.
Both wanted to have an impact on climate change over and above what they were doing in their day jobs and personal lives, so started "bouncing ideas around" before and after work.
Having narrowed their focus to commuting, they researched the issue in all sorts of ways, including standing outside the Mt Victoria tunnel, and hitchhiking from the suburbs into the city.
After being accepted into a business accelerator programme in June last year, they were able to work on the platform full-time. More recently, they were recognised in the Inspiring Stories Impact Awards, which celebrate young New Zealanders making a difference.
While sustainability is becoming more important for workplaces, many of them don’t know how their people get to work, how they feel about their commute and if they are ready to change, Grave says.
Others find gathering commuting-related data a painful, time-consuming exercise, so leave it out of their annual carbon accounting process.
Data gained from the app and employee surveys make this reporting easier and help determine which "reduction initiatives" will have a good uptake among workers.
Survey respondents can receive personalised reports on their annual commuting-related emissions and ideas for reducing them. The app can connect them with other people for car-pooling, link them with sustainable transport options such as e-bikes and allow them to set goals — to cycle to work 10 days in the next month, for example — and track their progress. There is also a "competition" element, complete with leaderboards.
Grave doesn’t underestimate the task ahead. Kiwis love their cars and moving them towards other forms of transport will require a big behavioural change. She also realises that it is not always convenient for people not to drive, but says every time people go out they should be asking themselves if they really need to take that trip in a car or if there is another way they could do it.
Having worked with organisations such as Lincoln University, PwC and The
Co-operative Bank, they are already looking at expanding overseas next year.
Climate change is a global problem and as Hitch is a digital platform, having a physical presence in a country is not necessary.
"The UK might be a promising next step for us but it’s all in validation at the moment ... It’s very exciting."
