Auckland has no time to lose on climate change goal
OPINION: Can Auckland commit to having all of its transport free of petrol and diesel power within a decade? When Auckland councillors boldly and unanimously committed to the city halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 , that could be the scale of change to which they have signed up. More importantly, it is the scale of change Aucklanders may need to accept if the city is to achieve the long-term goal of helping to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050. The degree of political courage and commitment required around the council table could become obvious as soon as May. READ MORE: * Climate change: Auckland Council toughens its emission target * Auckland's climate debate: 'It's not going to be pretty' * Aucklanders want bold action on climate change, middle-aged men less convinced * Climate change: 20,000 Aucklanders exposed to flood risk this century The unanimous vote to halve emissions by 2030 was accompanied by insights into the challenge ahead. Transport accounts for 44 per cent of Auckland's emissions and is the area where the council has the most influence. The climate action research and lobby group 1point5 Project calculates that transport in Auckland will need to be completely decarbonised to deliver the required clean-up by 2030. That will be a combination of winding down the import of fossil-fuel powered vehicles, a big shift into public and active transport and and simply driving fewer kilometres. As Mayor Phil Goff said of the 2030 target: "That is huge that is life and lifestyle-changing." Transport will have to play a disproportionate role, given for example that 15 per cent of Auckland's emissions come from the Glenbrook Steel Mill, over which local government has little influence. Let's start with the public transport system. Richard Hills who chairs the Environment and Climate Change committee said theoretically, public transport use needs to treble. Advocates greaterauckland.org.nz calculated that involved nearly doubling the average patronage growth of the past five years. That won't come cheap, and the starting point is a public transport network under such financial pressure that Auckland Transport (AT) has been trimming off-peak services where patronage is low, to keep up with growth elsewhere. AT, with the silent approval of councillors, puts up fares each year to help boost its coffers, even though it knows patronage growth will suffer. Boosting public transport use might involve costly services such as one idea highlighted by Waitakere ward councillor Shane Henderson, who wants a bus service to the 1000-strong community living at the west coast beach of Piha. It is going to require a lot of council funding, not just to Piha, but to new, affordable and attractive services across Auckland. It will require focus by Auckland Transport to spending money on ways to get new bums on new seats, and not fund pet projects like the Uber-style service it is still trialling to get well-off Devonportians to their at-capacity ferries. Can all this be done within Goff's hand-on-heart election pledge to cap average general rates rises at 3.5 per cent and with no new rates, through to mid-2023? Paul Winton, the investment banker behind the 1point5 project, says it can. Public transport and electric buses (another potentially big-ticket item) will be only a part of the transport solution. Thirty per cent of Auckland's emissions come from cars and light vehicles. They need to become low-emission and spend less time on the road. Councillors will next month get their first glimpse at the detail of what the initial steps look like and will vote in May on the first round of action.