The direct and speedy implementation of road user charges is a key recommendation in the Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa submission to He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission.
Responding to the Commission’s 2021 Draft Advice for Consultation, Taituarā urges the Commission to progress final decisions on technology and develop legislation for road pricing, “as a time-critical action”.
Vehicle emissions are second only to agriculture in contributing to climate change and Taituarā Chief Advisor Raymond Horan says the local government sector has been calling for action on road pricing since 1993. “People need to be encouraged out of their cars – we need to charge for road use.”
Advanced in-vehicle technology can measure where the car has travelled, the time and date and the distance.
Raymond Horan says while these charges might be politically sensitive – “the Government keeps kicking that can down the road” – it’s a strategy that works, and is accepted, in other countries. It’s also a push towards more investment in public transport.
He says the Commission does mention road pricing in the Draft Advice, but it’s hidden away in a suite of recommendations and “it could have been put with more power”.
Taituarā also calls on the Commission to update the research on the environmental and social costs of road use and identify the next regulatory and practical steps to support road pricing in practice: “and that these steps be incorporated into the development of the integrated transport strategy and the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding”.
It also recommends the Commission support the amendment of section 46 of the Land Transport Management Act to permit tolling of existing roads, subject to public consultation.
Taituarā urges the Commission to incorporate the Taituarā Three Horizons Approach outlined in its report Navigating Critical 21st Century Transitions, to accelerate and integrate transitions to a low-emissions, zero-waste state, where life in a disrupted climate, ongoing learning and interconnected communities are the norm.
The Commission’s Draft Advice includes equipping the workforce with skills needed in a low-emissions state, but Taituarā recommends that people also need to be equipped with life and personal skills: “This is the transition that supports people and communities to develop mindsets, approaches, tools and techniques to make the other necessary transitions.”
Taituarā also recommends that the Commission’s advice regarding working from home as a low-carbon option be expanded to include community hubs for shared and communal working, to avoid social isolation.
Because climate change impacts on every aspect of life, Taituarā says the Commission should recommend that the Government urgently establish an interdepartmental executive board with responsibility for climate change, making a group of chief executives responsible for outcomes – rather than the Ministry for the Environment shouldering the load.
Taituarā also supports aligning investments with climate outcomes and suggests that the Infrastructure Commission could publish a framework outlining its approach to climate change, as a useful example for other agencies to follow.
Other recommendations from Taituarā on the Draft Advice include improved support for low-waste and low-emissions good and services procurement in the public sector and local government; extending the Commission’s recommendations on distributed power generation to encompass the whole country as part of a national energy strategy; and recognising that local authorities already provide much of the information that would be required by a regime of financial disclosure of climate-related risk.
Raymond Horan says that while he agrees mostly with the Commission’s advice, he says it could have “used a bit more specificity and power in some of the recommendations”.
He says there is a strong willingness in the local government sector to transition to a low-emission, zero-waste “new normal” and Taituarā is developing courses for leading and communicating this “era-scale change”.
“It does raise some big, crunchy issues on the scale of change and the nature of changes that need to be made.”
Tackling some of these big, crunchy issues is under way in Dunedin, where Principal Policy Advisor (Sustainability), Jinty MacTavish, is leading the Zero Carbon work programme. After declaring a climate emergency in 2019, Dunedin City Council resolved to aim for city-wide net carbon neutrality (excluding biogenic methane) by 2030. First steps under the work programme have sought alignment of the draft 10-year plan budgets with zero carbon ambitions.
Transport was identified as the largest and fastest-growing source of emissions and so advice to members was that this was a priority area for the 10-year plan. Transport projects in the draft plan focus on emissions reduction – including the Shaping Future Dunedin Transport strategy to improve public and active transport.
The draft plan also has a number of projects to reduce emissions from waste, including expanding kerbside collection to include separate kitchen and garden waste, investing in organics processing and a construction and demolition waste facility, and building additional community resource recovery parks.
The Council has also budgeted $14.5m in its 10-year-plan to convert its major LPG boilers to alternative energy sources. It is working with partners such as the Otago Regional Council, the Southern District Health Board and education providers on joint emissions reduction initiatives through a Zero Carbon 2030 Alliance.
Jinty MacTavish says the Dunedin’s submission to the Climate Commission highlights that it is critical for Government policy and investment to align with, and support, local government’s emissions reduction targets and in particular called for the specific support of Waka Kotahi and legislative changes to the Land Transport Management Act to urgently reduce emissions.
“Dunedin is one of many communities across our motu with great ambition to reduce emissions quickly and we are urging greater ambition from the government to support this mahi.”
Meanwhile in the Waikato Region, 68 per cent of emissions come from farming and Principal Strategic Advisor Blair Dickie is focused on a range of mitigation measures.
The Waikato Regional Council is integrating climate considerations into all of its activities and is aiming for at least 25 per cent overall emission reduction by 2030 and working towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
While 44 per cent of emissions are offset by forestry, the Council is also advocating alternative carbon sinks, such as wetlands, to offset emissions and is looking to diversify forests and plant more native trees to stabilise erosion-prone land and restore habitat for native species.
The Council is calling for Government investment to research carbon sinks to support farmers working to offset emissions.
Waikato is home to more than 70 per cent of Aotearoa’s geothermal resource and the Council has policies and rules for the use of renewable geothermal energy where surface features such as hot springs, pools and geysers are not affected.
Blair Dickie says the Mokai Power Station is a great example – a geothermal power station owned by the Tuaropaki Power Company and operated by Mercury Energy. The Mokai geothermal system powers a large greenhouse complex, a milk processing plant and a plant nursery. Last year, the Tuaropaki Trust and Japan’s Obayashi Corporation formed a joint venture, Halcyon Power, to develop a green hydrogen production facility at the Mokai plant.
Water is a big issue in the area and the Waikato Regional Council is working to improve water quality and retention, assess current flood management and the impact of extreme weather on industry, and build resilience along its coastlines.
“Large areas of the Hauraki Plains and some of the lower Waikato catchment are already below sea level,” says Blair Dickie. “We need to prepare for floods and sea level rise.”
More people in the region and more cars on the road have seen transport emissions jump 32 per cent in the last three years, and the council is promoting the transition to low emission fuels, electric vehicles and walking and cycling in the urban areas.
Blair Dickie says the Waikato Regional Council is working alongside iwi partners, business and industry, and local and central government to tackle emissions and build a more productive and resilient economy.
“We are walking the talk,” he says. “It’s a big mission.”
The Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa submission on Te Pou a Rangi the Climate Change Commission's Draft Advice to the Government can be found on our Advocacy and Research page.