WELLINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's Southland has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming a carbon neutral region.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced on Tuesday a funding for the Carbon Neutral Advantage project, which will see local business, industry and communities work together to turn Southland to a carbon neutral region.

The Community Environment Fund is backed by the government with a 190,000 NZ dollars (124,692 U.S. dollars).

"Venture Southland's ambitious project to take a regional approach to reducing carbon emissions shows great leadership and is something the government is proud to support," Sage said.

Over the next three years, Venture Southland aims to measure, assess, and take steps to reduce the region's emissions. The project will establish a regional carbon neutral framework, create a local carbon measurement tool, identify and set carbon reduction targets, and conduct a feasibility study for a regional carbon financial tool.

"New Zealanders want action on climate change and so it's great to see Venture Southland taking up this call to action at a regional level," Climate Change Minister James Shaw said.

The benefit of this type of collaborative approach is that it helps bring in all the relevant perspectives, as well as build a resilient and sustainable economy, Shaw said.

"Climate change is not just an environmental issue, it also has social and economic impacts. Southland produces 15 percent of New Zealand's tradeable exports, mainly from the primary sector. This project should help future proof that position," he said.