Multi award-winning Elanti Media is a small production house with a big heart.

Established in 2016 by producer/director Vanessa Wells, our BHAG* is to help make the world a better place. A little cheesy we know, but hey, talking out loud about stuff is a great way to start making change.

Elanti creates impact with award-winning film, television and interactive content, mostly in the documentary genre. Over the years we have grown to collaborate with some incredible people and companies. We’re drawn to stories that are curious, adventurous, and socially conscious: work that both entertains and shifts the way we see the world.

We strive to tread lightly. Since being fully certified with Toitū Envirocare (2020-2026), we are currently reassessing how we measure our footprint independently. We’re always happy to share how we track our emissions, what we’ve learned about reducing them, and how we offset what’s left.

In our time with Toitū we reduced our footprint by 60%. That was the easy part: refining our systems, switching providers and educating ourselves. The hard part begins now: managing our footprint as we grow. Being from the bottom of the world - travel remains our biggest challenge.

*BHAG = Big Hairy Audacious Goal!

THE FINE PRINT: Measuring our Carbon Footprint - our journey:

We walk the talk, and recognise that we need to be accountable for our impacts on the world. As such, Elanti commits to operating as lightly as possible, and encourages collaborators to do the same. We happily discuss our past audit process and our current Environmental Policy (which we review each year) - please contact Vanessa directly with any questions.

The techy bit … across our work with Toitū, our “carbon footprint” decreased from 15.16 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2018/19, to our last formal audit for the 2021/22 financial year at 5.84 tCO2e. This was an over 60% reduction. And this is only the start of our carbon reduction journey. We are actively reducing our impacts by:

  • reducing our travel where we can

  • when we do travel (and making global work requires flying from New Zealand) - we make our travel count, packing in as much as possible to every trip. Domestically, is it better to drive or fly? We often have choices.

  • reducing our direct fossil fuel use (diesel and LPG specifically), switching to renewable energy sources and reducing our reliance on “the grid”.

  • supporting our regenerative farmers and other local suppliers where we can, and using other partners who are also “treading lightly”.

While we take action to reduce our emissions, we also proactively offset emissions we can’t remove through purchasing of carbon credits. When we can, we prefer to support local projects such as Hinewai Reserve, an ecological restoration project on Banks Peninsula, and other similar businesses in New Zealand. Our certification with Toitū expired in April 2026, and we are currently reassessing how to measure our footprint independently.

Photo credit: Dan Poulton