A Gisborne district councillor is frustrated a plan to have net-zero emissions by 2030 looks more “aspirational” than “achievable”.
During Wednesday’s Sustainable Tairāwhiti Meeting, councillor Tony Robinson reminded staff “there is no Planet B”.
In the council’s previous term, councillors adopted the net-zero 2030 vision in March 2022.
At that time there was no “appetite to purchase carbon credits to reach the target,” according to a report discussed by councillors at the meeting.
The report states the target will be “practically impossible to meet” without purchasing credits.
Councillors voted on Wednesday to relook at the timeline following a workshop early next year where they will receive all the information needed to reset the agenda if they choose.
A draft Emissions Reductions Plan was developed in early 2023. It identified 20 priority actions to reduce emissions, which would have cost the council around $31m spread from 2023 to 2030.
Of the draft actions, only seven have been included in the Three-Year Plan, and five of those are for waste minimisation.
Reaching the 2030 target would mean the remaining actions would need to be funded and implemented within the first three years of the 2027-2037 Long-Term Plan, the report says.
Council senior climate change adviser Sally McIntosh told the councillors the original target adopted in 2022 was “aspirational” and was made without the appropriate background data, such as cost implications and required actions.
“We did not want to put that in front of you again ... without having a more detailed discussion.”
Robinson, who was in the previous council that adopted the plan, expressed disappointment and frustration.
“In preparation for this paper, I did a bit of research and discovered there is no Planet B. I’ve scratched my head wondering why costings were not firmed up.”
He questioned why the draft Emissions Reductions Plan wasn’t put to council in 2022.
The net-zero by 2030 plan directed the development of the Climate Change Roadmap to 2050.
The council chose 2030 because it thought it was “aspirational” and “achievable,” Robinson said.
Council chief financial officer Pauline Foreman said when the council was grappling with the 24-27 Three-Year Plan, it was post-cyclone Gabrielle.
“The difficulty was how do you implement that when you’re actually against your debt cap?”
Foreman said two-thirds of the $31 million budget was in the solid waste area, which predominantly featured in the council’s current Three-Year Plan.
The next part was to consider other elements that were identified.
“Net-zero was conditional on the financial. Fundamentally the map is continuing. It just needs to confirm at what pace.”
According to the report, the net-zero plan faces significant challenges because of “operational, financial and technological constraints”, particularly in waste management, which accounts for 88% of the council’s emissions profile.
The closed Paokahu landfill accounted for over half of the council’s waste-related emissions.
The report notes that landfill emissions peaked just before 2005, a few years after the landfill’s closure in 2002, and will likely gradually decrease to near-zero by 2050 without any intervention.
It says waste collection and disposal - from wastewater treatment, stationary energy, transport, building and construction and land use - are other ways the council generates emissions.
“There are actions we can take in the short term to support emissions reduction across these areas although some emissions are expected to remain unavoidable in 2030.
“Offsetting or insetting would be required to meet a net-zero target.”
The council could inset their emissions by planting trees on council land, but this takes time.
“The Pamoa [Forest] trees planted between 2020 and 2024 will not produce any offset until 2026,” the report says.
When the council adopted the plan, it had been recommended to adopt a plan that met net zero by 2040.
The report recommends revisiting the target and timeframes to develop a council Emission Reduction Plan.
By extending the net-zero target timeframe, emissions-reduction technologies would be more widely available, emissions from landfill gas would have naturally reduced and there is greater potential for insetting as trees grow, the report states.
Mayor Rehette Stoltz and councillor Debbie Gregory said they remembered councillors being cautioned when they adopted the 2030 goal.
Stoltz said she was “not surprised” the council found itself in this situation.
“And that is not even saying we have had Covid and cyclones in the middle.”
Councillors Rawinia Parata and Robinson said the council should work with its partners and not do this alone.
Parata said the workshop should be open to people outside the council.
“[Council perspective] is not diverse enough for us to have meaningful input into climate adaptation,” she said.
McIntosh said the council was working with the Aotearoa Climate Adaptation Network - a network of council staff collectively sharing information.
The council’s regional emissions reduction programme had a “just transitions” project that included iwi and Trust Tairāwhiti, but that had been put on hold since Gabrielle.
The project was included in the council’s Three-Year Plan and the previous Tairawhiti economic action plan, but not in the new one, McIntosh said.
Council director of sustainable futures Joanna Noble said the council was creating a standalone climate change response team with a dedicated manager to ensure the work was prioritised.
Councillors will meet on March 6 next year to workshop an Emissions Reduction Plan target, as well as scope and mitigation options.
