Draft Regional Emissions Reduction Plan Endorsed
A big milestone was achieved for the Wellington Region’s Emissions Reduction Plan on 5 December 2023. The Wellington Regional Leadership Committee endorsed the direction of the draft Plan and its focus areas at their December meeting.
The plan has been developed collaboratively, between local and central government, industry and sector groups, iwi, and the community.
The purpose of the Plan is to focus on cross-region opportunities to reduce GHG emissions, and to identify barriers to achieving these.
A big milestone for the Wellington Region’s Emissions Reduction Plan today! The Wellington Regional Leadership Committee endorsed the direction of the draft Plan and its focus areas. A lot of work and input has gone into developing the Plan from local and central government, industry and sector groups, iwi, and the community. The purpose of the Plan is to focus on cross-region opportunities to reduce GHG emissions, and to remove roadblocks. A small number of actions that require collective ownership/advocacy have been identified. The four focus areas are:
- Transport and urban form
- Energy
- Circular economy
- Productive land and primary industries
Three of the four focus areas connect to our region’s biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sources: transport, energy, and agriculture. The principles of the fourth focus area – circular economy – can be applied to all areas of emissions.
– Planning for sustainable transport and urban form on a regional level is necessary. Local government has significant levers available to make the key shifts we need to reduce emissions. Transport is the second largest source of emissions in our region and has the highest potential for co-benefits to our health and well-being through cleaner air, more livable cities and healthier communities.
– Energy underpins everything we do. We need to reduce energy use as well as electrify many activities currently powered by fossil fuels if we are to collectively reduce emissions. Energy’s role in decarbonising other sectors means that regional energy emissions are tipped to grow faster than other sources of regional emissions unless action is taken.
– Circular approaches reduce GHG emissions by increasing the efficiency of resources used within the economy. This is a high priority for iwi and community groups. Waste makes up a small portion of our region’s emissions, but overconsumption sits at the root of our climate change and ecological crises.
– While agricultural emissions are the largest source of our region’s emissions, there is a lot underway at a central government level, and more recently the industry level. We would like to work with farmers and growers to increase farming practices that help reduce emissions and increase resilience to grow food for the future that is climate-friendly, reduces emissions and is of high value.
About the Author
Patrick McVeigh, Lead – People and Places at MartinJenkins.
Patrick has more than 25 years’ experience working across the public and private sectors in strategy development, policy formulation, research and evaluation, scenario planning and visioning. He has delivered a broad range of projects in a variety of subject areas and locations. Patrick’s background includes eight years of public policy and economic development roles in London, and five years at ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development), leading the organisation’s business, innovation and skills activities as well as the wider economic insight and analysis programme. Patrick has a BSc in Town Planning Studies, a Post Graduate Diploma in City and Regional Planning (Distinction), and a Post Graduate Diploma in Social Science Research Methods – all from Cardiff University.