“My thoughts are that the reduction in emissions is likely linked to Cyclone Gabrielle. We are doing our own work that will be coming out later in the year.”
Primary industries, the region’s biggest producer of greenhouse gas, reduced emissions in Hawke’s Bay from 2545 to 2492 kilotonnes CO₂-e from 2022-23.
That represented a decrease of 2.1%, but primary industries had increased emissions by 5.2% over the 2021-22 period. Over a longer-term period, primary industries decreased emissions by 10.7%.
A Forest & Bird spokeswoman said it was possible Cyclone Gabrielle contributed to lower emissions in 2022-23, but other factors also probably contributed, including a national trend of reducing emissions over the past few years due to good hydro lake levels and less need for fossil-fuel power generation, more efficient use of energy in new technologies, and high fertiliser prices leading to reduced usage.
“High-intensity rainfall events will increase in frequency and severity. These are likely to continue to impose costs on to regional New Zealand because the clean-up and rebuild from such events results in additional greenhouse gas emissions and impacts to regional economies,” the spokeswoman said.
“It is important that these risks are reduced through the implementation of nature-based solutions to slow water entering waterways and the coastal marine environment through giving rivers more room to move, restoration of wetlands, and native afforestation of erosion-prone slopes as native forest is less erosion prone than exotic forestry.”
The regional council’s annual greenhouse gas emission assessment released this year, based on emissions data for the financial year 2021-22, showed emissions were not declining in line with reductions needed to achieve the region’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
At the time, Abrahim-Bennet said agriculture and transport were the main contributors to emissions in Hawke’s Bay.
“Although the overall regional profile is static, the district profiles are very different, so challenges and opportunities differ accordingly,” Abrahim-Bennet said earlier.
In that period, most of Napier’s emissions came from transport (57%) and only 5% from agriculture, while considerable forestry sequestration in Wairoa meant the district was sequestering more carbon than emitted.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features with a focus on the environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
