Disagreement over direction of Nelson's climate change road map
A draft road map for Nelsons plan to deal with climate change has been put to councillors, but there was some disagreement over the directions to get there. The first draft of the Nelson City Councils Climate Change Action Plan was presented to councillors for feedback on Tuesday, at a workshop for the environment and climate committee. In August 2020 the Nelson City Council agreed on a series of recommendations related to climate change , including the development of an emission reduction action plan. Climate change adaptation adviser Daniela Ramirez presented the plan, which included a range of mitigation and adaptation actions for both the council and the community. READ MORE: * Focus on climate change in 'most ambitious' long term plan * Council's leader on climate change response resigns * Nelson declares climate emergency We are here to get feedback on the climate action plan because we are hearing from the LTP and from the community that they want actions. Ramirez said the councils objectives were in line with the Governments stated domestic targets. This would mean a 10 per cent reduction of biogenic emissions by 2030, and a targeted reduction of between 24-47 per cent by 2050. Ramirez said from a council perspective, biogenic emissions came mainly from its landfills and wastewater treatment plant. She said for all other emissions, the aim was to reach net zero by 2050. Mitigation actions included initiatives such as energy efficiency audits across council assets, the councils electric vehicle policy and shifts from conventional lighting to LEDs. Ramirez also outlined a series of mitigation initiatives relating to the community, and adaptation plans across both council and the community. While there was a general acceptance amongst councillors about the need to have the plan ready for the next environment and climate committee meeting, there was some disagreement about the scope of the document. Environment and climate committee chair Kate Fulton said she was disappointed the document did not include a strategic framework and the storytelling around the councils response to climate change. This was another of the recommendations that had been put forward in August 2020, and was intended to bring together and provide high level guidance to all the key elements of the councils climate change work. She said while workshops had been scheduled for late 2020 on that topic, they had not gone ahead. Personally I feel really uncomfortable sending up a document without strategic thinking set in behind it. I think we missed an opportunity. Were trying to play catch up now, and how we catch up to me is about more than just the actions. Council group manager for strategy and communications Nicky McDonald said there had been a difference of understanding about the document, with staff planning to work on different documents for the different resolutions. She said the action plan had captured everything the council had agreed on regarding climate change in the Long Term Plan. It will be on our website, so we can all see as an action is taken and as that money is spent that that is ticked off ... it's a living document thats a record of everything were doing on climate change in one place. Mayor Rachel Reese said while the document was a good start, it needed to be communicated in a way that motivated the community to be a part of it. Councillor Brian McGurk said he was happy with the document as it stood, while several councillors expressed the desire to get it out to the public as soon as possible. Councillor Matt Lawrey said the councils 2019 climate change emergency seemed like a long time ago. I think people have been waiting for this for too long and I think most of us are eager to be communicating with Nelson what we're doing.