Auckland Council, Watercare, Auckland Transport and Panuku Development Auckland have joined over sixty leading New Zealand businesses committed to addressing the issue of climate change.
By joining the Climate Leaders Coalition, the council and wider council whānau have agreed to collaborative action on the coalition’s commitments. These include:
- measuring greenhouse gas emissions and publicly reporting on them
- setting public emissions reduction targets consistent with keeping below two degrees of warming
- working with suppliers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Auckland Council chief executive Stephen Town is proud the council has joined the coalition.
“Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the Auckland region, and we are committed to playing our part in rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the impacts of a changing climate,” says Mr Town.
Climate Leaders Coalition welcomes the council
CEO of Z Energy and head of the Climate Leaders Coalition, Mike Bennetts has warmly welcomed the addition of the council and wider council family to the coalition.
“We’re pleased to welcome Auckland Council, Auckland Transport and Panuku Development Auckland to the Climate Leaders Coalition.
"Together with Watercare, these four organisations are the first to join from local government. This is significant because action on climate change will require collaboration across the private and public sectors and we’re looking forwarding to working together,” says Mr Bennetts.
What are we already doing?
The joint commitment by Auckland Council and council organisations reinforces the actions we are taking to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of these actions include:
- increasing the use of communication technologies to reduce travel requirements and transitioning our fleets to electric vehicles
- improving the energy efficiency of our buildings
- replacing street lighting with LEDs
- transitioning our diesel trains to electric power
- changing our wastewater treatment processes to capture greenhouse gases and using biogas to generate electricity
- requiring ‘Homestar’ as a sustainability standard for new homes in re-development locations
- having strict energy and carbon targets at Wynyard Quarter and working with developers to deliver these.
Signing up to the Climate Leaders Coalition and further reducing our greenhouse gas emissions not only strengthens our commitment to act on climate change, but also supports the council’s focus on improving value to ratepayers.
Recent energy efficiency improvements to the council’s building, Te Wharau o Tāmaki / Auckland House, generated savings of 414 tonnes of carbon per year and $300,000 per year.
Join the conversation
Our commitment to joining the Climate Leaders Coalition coincides with the development of Auckland’s Climate Action Plan. This work includes the ideas hub climateakl.co.nz, an online space for Aucklanders to share ideas about climate action and climate solutions.
Check it out, join the conversation, and be involved in shaping Auckland’s climate future.
