Taupō District Council adopts climate change directives 31 Aug 2022

LWAG heard from TDC’s Climate Change Policy Manager, Aiden Smith at their August meeting where he outlined the ‘emissions reduction targets & directive’ now being undertaken by council. Link to minutes here:

·Aiden explained to the group that he is not an environmental or climate scientist. His education is in Economics and he has worked for 15 year developing public policy, largely in the areas of funding policy, and fees, charges and taxation, and regulatory intervention.

He outlined what the focus of his work has been over the last few months, and will be over the next year or so including what council is doing to reduce its own emissions – which has been the focus of their recent work. That includes setting some emissions reduction targets and Council giving direction that will set up for the next round of investment planning.

Full media release on TDC’s Climate Change Directives Here: The emissions reductions targets are based on a path to meeting the national target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Reducing solid waste, improving energy efficiency, and reducing fuels for vehicles and gardening equipment are areas where the council has the greatest opportunities to reduce emissions.

Council policy manager Nick Carroll says during consultation on the Long-term Plan 2021-2031, a significant number of community submissions asked the council to take action on climate change.

Mr Carroll says council has already made steps to cut down its emissions but there are areas of operations where more reductions can be made, primarily in fuel, electricity use and in construction costs, and this also makes good business sense.

“We will only take action where the benefits outweigh the costs.

“With the community’s help, there are substantial amounts of money that could also be saved in some areas. Solid waste levies currently cost $1.8 million in carbon credit costs, and this expense is rising year-on-year.

“People can support our emissions reduction efforts by taking action themselves, for instance, by reducing the amount of solid waste they send to landfill,” Mr Carroll said.

The emissions reduction directive sets out an expectation that Council’s considers greenhouse gas emission impacts and options to reduce them in its future decisions, business cases and investment plans.

Options to reduce emissions will be a focus for the council’s next investment plan (the Long-term Plan 2024-2034). Options will be assessed against the Government’s shadow carbon price to ensure value for money. If the cost to reduce emissions is higher than this price, then there are likely to be better alternatives to reduce emissions.

People will have the opportunity to give their views on Council’s emissions reduction targets and proposed actions, through the Annual Plan and Long-term Plan consultative processes.

Council’s climate change strategy is available to view on the council website at www.taupo.govt.nz/climatechange.