Residents plead with city leaders to set ambitious targets for tackling climate change
Christchurch residents have urged city leaders to be courageous and set ambitious targets for tackling climate change. Christchurch City Council is considering when it wants the city to become carbon-neutral. The Government has a target of 2050, but the council has asked residents if it should work toward achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions sooner. Of the 180 responses from residents, businesses and community groups, 87 per cent wanted the council to set more ambitious targets. Shannon Gilmore, of climate change action group Generation Zero, told the council's Innovation and Sustainable Development Committee on Wednesday, there was still an opportunity to prevent runaway climate change, but only if the city had the courage to act. READ MORE: * Climate change plan aims to make Christchurch carbon neutral ahead of 2050 target * Tens of thousands of school students demonstrate across NZ calling for action on climate change * City of polluters: Major changes needed to make Christchurch carbon neutral by 2050 "It is cheaper to act now rather than delay further. Imagine if we had the opportunity to stop the earthquakes. Wouldn't you have done it? This is parallel." Gilmore said if no action was taken, sea levels would rise and there would be increased flooding in the Avon River and storms would intensify. "Not to mention the potential collapse of our eco-system. We need ambitious actions now." A carbon neutral policy was not going to take cash out of pockets, it was going to provide a more vibrant city, she said. The committee will decide on Friday whether to go with the staff recommendation of 2045 to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, with a 50 per cent reduction by 2030. Staff also recommended methane emissions should be reduced by at least 45 per cent by 2045. Molly Smeele, 15, of School Strike 4 Climate Change, said the group wanted the council to set the target at 2040 and not wait until 2050. "If we don't have it at neutral at 2050 we're in a lot of trouble. It's like doing your homework the last day before it's due. I did that last night and it's a bad decision. "You guys have the chance to make a decision that will impact the future and we hope you make decisions that are ambitious and make sure our carbon emissions are as low as possible." Transport was the largest contributor to Christchurch's emissions at 53 per cent, followed by energy used in buildings and infrastructure (22 percent). Smeele said buses in the city were hard to use and the electric-scooters were too expensive. "Electric buses are a great idea but you need to have a bus system that is useable. If we have that, people will use it more often." Political scientist associate professor Bronwyn Hayward said free public transport would change the game and it should at least be offered to people under 18. She said transport and building were two key things the council could influence. Exactly how the city would reach any carbon zero goal was not yet known, but would be looked at as part of the council's wider climate change strategy. Structural engineer Ben Moerman said one way to reduce emissions was to build with wood, rather than steel and concrete. He wanted the council to adopt a wood first policy, which would require owners of new buildings including non-residential, to consider a timber option and if they did not use timber they would have to state why. "Timber is a net zero building material." Moerman said if all the non-residential buildings built in Christchurch annually were built of wood it would be the equivalent of removing 45,000 cars from the road. Resident Wayne Findley said measuring net emissions would require more staff, more money and a new council department. He said the council was being dishonest in pushing for a zero carbon policy when it held shares in Christchurch Airport, which derived its income from air travel. The council also funded tourism agency ChristchurchNZ to attract visitors and promote economic and business growth, which resulted in more emissions, he said. Findley wanted the council to approve the Government's emissions targets.