Wellington City must be Cautious on Carbon Neutral

Wellington City must be Cautious about Carbon Neutrality

Wellington City Council must be very cautious in striving to achieve its “aspirational vision of carbon neutrality”, according to the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Climate change is a critical global issue and the Chamber is strongly supportive of sound international measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However we would be very anxious about unilateral actions that impact negatively on the city’s competitiveness,” said Chamber CEO Charles Finny.

“Careful analysis is required. We are disappointed that a cost/benefit analysis has not been done before announcing the vision. We need to know what the impact on the Wellington economy would be from such a goal.

“Wellington city has to do its bit on this critical global issue, but the fact of the matter is that the city is too small for its actions to have any significant impact on global emissions.

“There are some positive things that can be done toward carbon neutrality such as speeding up the processes enabling a decision on Makara Wind Farm, continued planning for a compact city and increased investment in public transport.

“We fully support these and other initiatives but we also believe there needs to be more emphasis on adapting to the reality of climate change rather than on trying to prevent it. Climate change will impact on the city through increased rain, higher sea levels and more frequent storms. The city needs to future-proof its infrastructure against the environmental, social and economic impacts of such change. In this regard, the regional construction of the new alignment of SH1 through Transmission Gully is essential.

“Higher energy costs resulting from the carbon neutrality goal would be detrimental to Wellington’s regional competitiveness if other cities and other economies did not face the same measures. If economic activity shifted out of Wellington in response to higher domestic costs of production and distribution it would be devastating for the city yet global emissions would not be reduced at all.

“Wellington cannot influence the rest of the world by moving ahead of the pack. It can achieve the most by participating fully in the national debate and encouraging other cities and other economies to take action but it should not take punitive action on itself unilaterally.

“The Chamber is looking forward to constructive engagement with the council on these issues. They are a serious concern for Wellington businesses,” Mr Finny concluded.

ENDS

© Scoop Media