Commendably, the Napier City Council recently adopted a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction plan to address its own corporate emissions profile.
NCC’s activities in 2023 resulted in 36,112 tonnes of GHG emissions. Per the Plan: “This includes the energy council uses in its facilities, buildings and streetlights; the petrol used by vehicles and equipment; wastewater treatment; farming at Lagoon Farm; waste going to landfill, emissions associated with building and maintaining infrastructure; delivering services like kerbside waste and recycling collections; and procurement of goods and services.”
The Plan targets reducing NCC’s operational emissions by 63% by 2035 and reaching net zero by 2050. Addressing the major components of NCC’s emissions will require an external focus with partners on specifying and building low carbon infrastructure and collaborating with suppliers to deliver emissions reductions through the procurement process and supply chain.
Some of the key actions in the Plan include:
- Replacing the fossil fuel boiler at Ocean Spa
- Phasing out natural gas from six other council facilities
- 100% LED street and amenity lighting
- Using more suitable bitumen chip seal, asphalt and concrete
- Appropriate design and construction practices in the Civic Precinct
- Reducing organic waste to landfill
- Transition Lagoon Farm to Ahuriri Regional Park
- Fleet transition to hybrid and electric vehicles
Mayor Kirsten Wise comments: “Here in Napier, we know very well the impact of extreme weather events. The science tells us there’s every chance these types of events will become more frequent. Taking action to reduce our vulnerability to climate change is the best thing we can do to mitigate risks to our community and become a more resilient city.”
The Plan focuses on getting NCC’s house in order with respect to emissions, but notes that the Napier community’s emissions in 2022 were 443,000 tonnes or 10% of the region’s total emissions. The Council’s emissions were about 8% of the city’s total emissions.
In an interesting illustration: “On a per capita basis this is 6.5 tonnes of CO2e or the equivalent of two return flights from Auckland to London for every single person in Napier.” The relevant international target would be about 3 tonnes per person.
NCC has set a target for the city of receiving net zero emissions by 2050.
Here is the NCC Emissions Reduction Plan.
OK HDC … your turn!
BayBuzz energy and climate reporting is sponsored by Unison in support of independent local journalism.
As you show on this chart, transport is the single largest emitter of emissions. Yet, as you show in another article it will be almost impossible to reduce transport emissions with current government policies. In fact, it is possible transport emissions may well increase if the main investment is roads. We know how to reduce transport emissions. We just choose not to do it.
Indeed. You only have to look at the expressway in the morning to see that large numbers of people commute from Napier to Hastings everyday. Is there any plan to get more people using the commuter “express” bus services? Or rather, a plan to change the bus services so that they actually work for working people who don’t live near central Napier?