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Communities for Climate Protection - New Zealand

Communities for Climate Protection^® - New Zealand (CCP^®-NZ): A New Zealand Government initiative delivered by ICLEI Oceania. This Programme is part of ICLEI’s international Cities for Climate Protection Campaign. Visit the CCP-NZ website for more information about the Programme.

CCP-NZ PROGRAMME NEWS

Participation and Milestone Achievements

There are currently 31 council participants in CCP-NZ, representing over 80% of New Zealand’s population.

Welcome to Waipa District and Far North District councils as the two latest participants in the Programme.

Congratulations to Kaipara District Council and Manukau City Council on having achieved Milestone 1, and to Carterton District Council on completing Milestone 3.

Forthcoming Events

CCP-NZ 2008 Forum

Planning for the CCP-NZ 2008 Forum Exploring Low-Carbon Futures for Local Government is well underway. The Forum is to be held on 2 April in Hamilton.

This exciting national forum will offer a range of excellent speakers and sessions on climate protection measures, business and community partnership opportunities, carbon neutrality, carbon trading and national climate change policies as they relate to local government.

Everyone is encouraged to register early for discounts. The Forum programme and registration forms are available on the CCP-NZ website.

An huge number of awards will be given to councils at our bi-annual Recognition Event. This year over twenty awards will be presented to mayors and chairpersons on behalf of the great work their councils are doing to reach the various milestones in the Programme.

The Recognition Event is to be held in the evening after the Forum and refreshments have been kindly sponsored by Grove Mill Winery, with a selection of certified carbon-zero wines.

Genesis Energy/ICLEI Oceania Energy Management Forum for Local Government

Sponsored and coordinated by Genesis Energy, and supported by ICLEI Oceania, this forum is to be held on 3 April 2008 in Huntly, the day after the CCP-NZ Forum.

This day is primarily for technical staff and CCP-NZ Primary Contact Officers and will be by invitation only, but if you wish to register interest in attending please email Christina Bellis.

The programme is available on the CCP-NZ website.

Climate change DVD

Many councils have ordered bulk copies of the CCP-NZ DVD, Climate Change: We can make a difference, for use in their council libraries and offices.

Some councils have also provided copies to schools and community groups.

The DVD offers a brief description of the latest scientific reports on climate change and remains a very useful tool for beginning public meetings on climate change.

See the CCP-NZ website for details on how to order a copy.

CCP-NZ COUNCILS IN ACTION

Environment Waikato helps develop creative waste solutions

Remember the line from the song Love and Marriage – “you can’t have one without the other”?

It could readily apply to making and selling food and the inevitable waste. But two inventive café owners in the Waikato are doing something about that link with a bit of help from Environment Waikato’s waste minimisation facilitator.

They’ve come up with an innovative green customer loyalty scheme based on a reusable metal coffee cup. Customers bring back the cup to be washed after they’ve used it and every time a customer buys a coffee they’ll receive a stamp on a loyalty card that earn points towards environmentally-friendly rewards like native trees.

See the Environment Waikato media release for more information.

Kaikoura plastic bag-free

Kicking the plastic bag habit is easier said than done but Kaikoura District Council is pushing its campaign to make it a Plastic Bag-Free region. Council is currently at Milestone 3 of the CCP-NZ Programme.

During December last year each Kaikoura local school student received one free reusable bag.

Kaikoura High School student, Helena Knowles (aged 11) designed a fantastic logo to be printed on the bags.

Local businesses were invited to be involved and each business that signed up to the campaign and committed itself to selling the bags had its name printed on 10,000 re-usable bags.

See the Kaikoura District Council website for more information about its plastic bag-free campaign.

Electric scooter trial for Auckland Regional Council

In ongoing efforts to green its fleet Auckland Regional Council is trialling two electric scooters for staff to get around the city.

The scooters have a top speed of 50km per hour and can be recharged in 90 minutes. Staff are being trained to ride the scooters and it costs about 50c to travel 100km.

As more than half of Auckland Regional Council staff already use bicycles, motorbikes and public transport to get to and from work, making the scooters available during work hours helps reduce the council's overall emissions.

Find out more from the Auckland Regional Council media release.

Christchurch International Airport goes carbon neutral

: Christchurch Airport. Photo / Simon Baker

As the majority owner of Christchurch International Airport Ltd, Christchurch City Council can revel in the glory of its airport being the second airport in the world to be accorded Carbon Neutral status.

The airport has measured its emissions and undertaken a comprehensive plan to reduce them.

An introduction of waste recycling programmes includes recycling former road materials for the airport's runways.

Other initiatives include using ground water to cool the terminal and converting heating systems from diesel to liquid petroleum gas.

See the article in the New Zealand Herald for more information.

Kapiti moves on sustainable water

Driving big changes in the area of water management, Kapiti Coast District Council has a proposed a new plan change that will require the use of greywater and water tanks for new homes.

Council has proposed that from 1 February 2008 every new home built on the Kapiti Coast will need to have either a 10,000 litre rain water tank or a 4500 litre rain water tank combined with an effective greywater treatment system.

The aim is to make the most of water from roofs and to utilise waste water from laundries and bathrooms.

Submissions to draft District Plan Change 75 close on 13 March 2008.

See the Kapiti Coast District Council website for more information.

NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE NEWS

World Environment Day

Wellington is the nominated host city for this year’s United Nations Environment Programme World Environment Day on June 5.

However, this is also a national event in which all New Zealanders can participate through a wide range of community-based and regional activities. Kick the Habit is the theme focusing on energy efficiency and de-carbonising our lifestyles.

Community funding is available for organisations, groups, schools and early childhood centres that wish to organise an event or activity during the week of World Environment Day, 2–8 June 2008.

Information about the grants and promotion of events can be viewed on the Ministry for the Environment website.

New Zealand’s State of the Environment Report

The second national-level report on the state of New Zealand’s environment was released early this year.

Environment New Zealand 2007 highlights the growing pressures on the environment, including household consumption, increasing transport demands, energy use and waste.

This detailed report paves the way for planned five-yearly reports of a similar kind. As always, local government will be a significant contributor to any environmental improvements.

Rotorua State of the Environment report

Local government contributed very significantly to New Zealand’s national State of the Environment report.

Rotorua then decided to publish the collected data as a snapshot of the local environment, and this went public on 18 February 2008. As with the national report, there are some interesting challenges for all local government in the assessments.

For more information visit the Rotorua District Council website.

Climate Day of Action a big success

: David Parker, Minister Responsible for Climate Change Issues, spoke to the crowd

The International Day of Action on Climate Change was celebrated around the country with thousands of people attending rallies and other events on 8 December 2007.

In Wellington alone, over 2000 people attended the Climate Change Festival in Civic Square, which was alive with activity and entertainment.

Along with other local government representatives, the CCP-NZ office had a stall selling DVDs and providing visitors with information about the Programme.

: Greater Wellington Regional Council had a very successful stall

GRANTS AND AWARDS

Green Ribbon Awards

Get your nominations in for this year’s Green Ribbon Awards. Hosted by the Ministry for the Environment, this is the 18th year of the awards.

All nominations must be in by 7 April 2008.

New categories added this year include ‘sustainability’ and ‘climate change’, so all CCP-NZ councils are encouraged to submit their climate change or sustainability actions for consideration.

Winners will be announced on World Environment Day, 5 June 2008.

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