City ‘unlikely’ to reach emission-cutting target

The chances of Christchurch reaching its first emissions-reduction target is close to zero as a damning report shows little progress has been made in seven years.

The city’s total gross greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by just 1% since 2017, a long way from the 50% reduction targeted for 2030 – just six years away.

A climate activist has dubbed the effort as “pathetic” and a city councillor is calling on the council to do more to get emissions down.

But a university professor says at least the figures are not scaling up.

The Christchurch City Council set the target in 2019, a few months after it became the third local body in the country to declare a climate emergency.

The ultimate goal is to become carbon-neutral (excluding methane) by 2045 – five years earlier than the Government’s deadline.

But a just-released greenhouse gas emissions inventory report, by consultants AECOM, shows the city is not yet on track to reach those targets.

The 1% reduction was largely due to a decrease in transport emissions from air travel, mostly related to Covid-19.

Transport remains the city’s highest-emitting sector, representing 54% of total gross emissions. Petrol and diesel use makes up 80% of transport emissions. Cars, trucks and buses are responsible for 39% and 71% of transport emissions.

However, it was not all bad news: Car emissions did decrease by 2% between 2019 and 2023, and bus emissions by 19% because of an increase in electric buses.

Domestic and international air travel makes up 8% of total emissions and 16% of transport.

Councillor Sara Templeton, the council’s climate change spokesperson, said she was not surprised by the numbers because the city had not been doing enough to help people make more sustainable choices, especially in the transport space.

“While it’s good to see that gross emissions are heading in the right direction, much of the decrease has been from things outside of council’s influence, such as Covid impacts, and these may not be sustained.”

Templeton said it was clear the council needed to make a concerted effort to implement work it knew would make a difference – like public transport, cycleways and its urban forest plan, which aimed to plant more trees through the city.

Over the past 10 years, the council has spent $2.1 billion on roads and footpaths, $109 million on public transport and $203m on cycleways.

“Meeting the targets we have set is looking increasingly unlikely and this long-term plan is a crucial one for our city.”

The council is now consulting on a draft 10-year budget – the long-term plan – which Templeton has previously criticised for not doing enough to address climate change.

“Residents have told us over and over again that climate action is important to them. We need to be on the right side of history, look to our children’s future and help our communities transition to a more sustainable way of living.”

Bronwyn Hayward, a professor of political science and public policy at Canterbury University, said at least the figures were not scaling up and this was just the beginning of people and cities across the world making a difference. There was significant focus at last year’s United Nations climate summit, COP27, to reduce emissions at a city level because cities contribute 75% of the world’s emissions, she said.

But to reduce them effectively, local government needed central government to set stable policies and stick to them, Hayward said. “It’s very important that we don’t see local government have the rug pulled out from under them just as they are starting to bend the curve downwards in urban planning, by changes in investment and support for public transport, and land use planning, and building regulations.”

School Strike 4 climate spokesperson Aurora Garner-Randolph said the report showed the council was making no real progress and continued policies that contributed to the climate crisis. “A 1% reduction in emissions over seven years is pathetic, and the council needs to pull out all the stops in order to hit the target.”

The city could reduce petrol and diesel use by building cycle lanes, improving public transport and increasing urban density, she said.