From Thursday’s Otago Daily Times:
At a meeting of the Dunedin City Council’s planning and environment committee this week, councillors voted to adopt a target of a 100% reduction in net carbon emissions by 2050, excluding methane for now.
The adoption of the target meant the council met its requirements as part of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and any zero carbon emissions policy for New Zealand that the Government is investigating.
A report prepared by council senior policy analyst Bill Frewen initially gave councillors three options for reducing emissions by 2050: a 100% net reduction excluding methane or an 80% net reduction including methane, both of which would be achieved through local and national carbon offsets and a reduction in emissions; or delaying adopting a target but taking feedback on the options presented.
In his report, Mr Frewen highlighted that, unlike cities such as Auckland and Wellington, almost half of Dunedin’s emissions came from the agricultural sector, which was mostly methane.
Cr Aaron Hawkins put forward a motion that the council adopt a net zero carbon emissions-reduction target, excluding methane, by 2050 and develop a series of targets as a pathway, as a matter of urgency.
Any methane-reduction targets would be set in line with the outcomes of the Government’s Zero Carbon Act consultation process.
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Offsets alone would not achieve the zero carbon target and a significant systematic and behavioural change would still be needed, he said.
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