Waikato Regional Council reduces emissions by 44.4 per cent

Corporate activities by WRC have reduced carbon emmissions by 44.4 per cent and Thames-Coromandel regional councillor wants TCDC to do step up.

Waikato Regional Council has achieved 44.4 per cent emissions reduction in four years and saved $97,000 in electricity costs.

Deputy chairman of the council's climate action committee and Thames Coromandel representative on the council Denis Tegg said it was outstanding climate action leadership by the council.

He acknowledged that lockdowns would have had a small impact on reducing electricity use, but said the savings of $97,000 are over the last three years.

"And in any case, working from home is one of the strategies the council has encouraged regardless of Covid as a way of saving both office power usage and transport emissions."

He's now calling on other councils to follow suit.

"It's up to other councils to follow the regional council's lead and get stuck in and implement comprehensive emission reduction actions," says Cr Tegg.

"Recent public submissions to Thames-Coromandel District Council on emission reductions show overwhelming support for immediate action. Hauraki District Council has developed an excellent Carbon Promise Plan. It's time for action."

The WRC achievement showed substantial savings can be achieved for ratepayers from emission reduction actions, he said.

Further significant emission reductions and cost savings can be expected when the council installs solar panels on its Paeroa office, says Cr Tegg.

"The estimated cost savings in the first year is $4745 and the net savings over 25 years is $101,623. An estimated 83 tons of CO2 equivalent will be avoided over 25 years.
The cost of the installation is $35,000 with an estimated payback period of just seven years."

An annual audit of the regional council's participation in the Toitū carbonreduce certification programme for 2020-21 has confirmed a 14.5 per cent annual reduction in mandatory emissions from the previous year.

The council is well on track to meet its current target of 68 per cent CO2e reductions by 2030 compared with its 2016-17 base year.

Emissions from electricity consumption have reduced from 715 tonnes of CO2e in the base year of 2016-17 to 226 tonnes of CO2e in 2020-21, a reduction of 68.4 per cent overall and of 14.4 per cent since 2019/2020.