Dismay as Hutt plans big CO2 emissions growth

Participants at the community workshop on 'Our Environment' held in Wainuiomata last night were surprised and dismayed when they learned of Hutt City Council's plan to boost climate-changing CO2 emissions by more than 10 percent in the next nine years. VAN spokesperson Grant Brookes attended the Regional Council's workshop.

"It's unacceptable that the Council produced a so-called 'Sustainability Strategy' in 2009 which announces, on its first page, that climate change 'has not been dealt with as a separate issue'", he said.

"The only mention of emissions targets in any Council document are buried in the back of its Economic Development plan. There, the aim is 30 percent growth in the city's GDP and a 15 percent reduction in CO2 emissions per dollar of GDP.

"In other words, a 10.5 percent jump in carbon emissions by 2019", said Grant.

"Time and again the Council has shot down calls to tackle climate change – most recently last November, when they voted not to adopt Greater Wellington's Regional Climate Change Response Plan.

"This can only be understood when you consider that Hutt City Council does not even accept that human-induced climate change is real. Or, as they put it in their 2008 Annual Report, 'Council has no official position on climate change'.

"It's all very well for climate-change deniers around the Council table to cling to their fringe beliefs", commented Grant, "but that's no good for the 2,000 Hutt residents who received letters in February telling them of new flood risks.

"Their insurance companies know that climate change is real, and increasingly so do the property valuers who assess their homes.

"Unless we act, the flooding seen in our region earlier this week is bound to become more frequent, and much worse as well.

"To tackle climate change, we need to change the council. That's one reason why VAN – Valley Action Network is standing candidates in Harbour, Eastern and Northern Wards committed to:

* A city for the residents - not for property developers & investors * No water meters, no privatisation - protect river & residents * Build council houses - create jobs, assets & affordable homes * No GST on rates - a tax on a tax is robbery * Council change, not climate change - a future for our kids * Free public transport - it makes climate sense & serves the people

VAN's climate change policy is reprinted below.

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Council change, not climate change – A future for our kids

Climate change concerns everyone. Rising levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere threaten the stability of our climate. We risk more extreme weather, more flooding, more droughts and higher sea levels. Business as usual will mean ever more greenhouse gas emissions. Many Hutt City residents live on low-lying land beside a major river. So for us, climate change is a special concern. Already this year, 2,000 households have received letters warning of new flood risks.

The best science tells us that we need to reduce greenhouse gases globally by at least 50 percent by 2050 to keep climate change to a manageable level. But world leaders failed to tackle climate change at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December.

Our government has introduced a watered-down emissions trading scheme that saddles grassroots people with rising costs, lets big emitters off the hook and will do nothing to stop climate change. When governments fail us, local communities must take the lead. Yet time and again, climate change deniers around the Council table have shot down calls for action.

Officially, Hutt City Council does not even accept that climate change is real. Meanwhile council officers report that "within cities such as Lower Hutt, almost all emissions result from transport and electricity consumption".

"Freight is the highest growth area for kilometres, energy, and emissions" – road freight in particular. If we carry on as we are, they say, these emissions will rise by 39 percent by 2030. Hutt City Council refuses to adopt the Regional Council's Climate Change Response Plan. But they have embraced the Wellington Regional Strategy. Beneath a veneer of environmental buzzwords, this Strategy calls for growing the regional economy through a massive expansion of air freight and passenger numbers through Wellington International Airport – especially via long haul flights.

It proposes a new $76 million road, the Hutt Cross-Valley Link, to get freight from Seaview to the airport. $20 million for this project is already in Hutt City Council's long-term budget. For our climate, this is the most damaging kind of growth imaginable. Little wonder that the Council is planning on a 10.5 percent increase in our city's CO2 emissions over the next nine years. Tackling climate change in Hutt City means confronting powerful corporate interests. Strong public pressure, as well as Council action, will be needed.

VAN - Valley Action Network will support grassroots campaigns by Hutt residents to put people and planet before profit. Hutt City should turn away from electricity generated by climate-changing coal-fired power stations, and use abundant renewable resources like wind and solar power instead. People must be given attractive alternatives to cars for getting around. And we need to focus economic growth on industries capable of reducing CO2 emissions, like the Woburn Rail workshops which can help get freight off our roads.

We say, the Council must get out of the dark ages when it comes to climate change. VAN – Valley Action Network will:

* Push for Hutt City Council to adopt the Greater Wellington Regional Council Climate Change Response Plan.

* Pull out of the Wellington Regional Strategy until it is refocused on economic growth that won't cook our planet.

* Scrap the Cross-Valley Link road and campaign for free and frequent public transport.

* Build environmentally friendly council houses near major public transport routes, so population growth can be met with minimal impact on climate.

* Support locally-owned, not-for-profit electricity generation using renewable resources, like neighbourhood wind turbines and solar panels.

* Plant trees on unused Council land, to help capture CO2 from the atmosphere, and support other landowners to do the same.

* Work with local communities to create transition plans to develop local infrastructure and skills to meet the challenge of climate change.

ENDS

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