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CCP-NZ – APRIL/MAY 2008

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 councils in the CCP-NZ Programme, covering over 80% of New Zealand’s population.

Congratulations to the following councils that have completed Milestone 1 since the last edition: Environment Waikato, Franklin District, New Plymouth District, Papakura District Councils.

Double congratulations go to Auckland Regional Council and Nelson City Council for recently completing both Milestones 2 and 3.

Hamilton CCP-NZ Forum 2008 and Recognition Event

: Jim Norris and the ICLEI Oceania team

Over 100 local government attendees and stakeholders attended our second national CCP-NZ forum, held in Hamilton on 2 April 2008. Many thanks to Genesis Energy for its generous support as the major contributor and thanks also to Hamilton City Council for hosting the Forum at the Le Grand Hotel conference centre.

Following the official welcome from Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock, the CCP-NZ National Programme Manager, Diana Shand, laid out the programme for the day.

To lead the first session, Martin Brennan, ICLEI Oceania’s Executive Manager – Partnerships, Political Support and International Unit, and Patti Wenn, ICLEI Oceania’s Executive Manager – Cities for Climate Protection, outlined the international climate change scene with global actions being undertaken by local governments.

An inspiring keynote presentation followed from Cr Jim Norris, former Mayor of Mount Alexander Shire, Australia. New Zealand local government leaders then shared a panel and a plenary discussion on the challenges of implementing local government carbon neutrality.

Other plenary sessions covered carbon trading for local government (Murray Ward, Principal of GtripleC), the Government’s Carbon Neutral Public Service programme (Gerri Ward, Programme Leader, MfE), and the role of business partnerships (Peter Neilson, CEO New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development). These plenary sessions were followed by panel discussions.

: Seretary for the Environment Howard Fancy addressing the forum

While a meeting of New Zealand participants in the Australasian Mayors Council for Climate Protection was underway, other practical workshops were also held. These workshops covered:

the role and value of implementing a communications strategy as part of a council’s action plan, Melanie Thornton, CCP-NZ
developments in adaptation methods and mechanisms – integration lessons from the adaptation programme development in Australia, Anne Marie deRose, CCP-Australia
the value of local government / community trust partnerships in providing climate change information and services to the household sector, Ian McChesney, Chair, Energy Efficiency Community Network.

The forum concluded with a lively “Big Hits – Big Savings” open discussion lead by Mike Underhill, CEO of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA), and Kerry Marshall, Mayor of Nelson City, which exposed some large potentials and significant barriers for the local government sector to be fully engaged with assisting in the implementation of the New Zealand Government’s climate change policies.

The closing keynote address from Secretary for the Environment Howard Fancy, identified many areas where central government and local government could work more closely on climate change reduction activities, setting the scene for the recognition and awards ceremony that followed.

CCP-NZ Recognition Event

: The award recipients

Those gathered at the Forum also celebrated the award of certificates for new councils to the Programme, and the award of trophies for council achievement of milestones passed.

Participation certificates were presented to Mayor Jenny Brash, Porirua City; Cr Laurie Hoverd, Waipa District; and Te Arani Te Haara, Far North District.

Milestone 1 awards were presented to:

Chairman Peter Buckley, Environment Waikato
Cr Sharon Stewart, Manukau City
Gwyn de Arth, Franklin District
Colin Comber, New Plymouth District
James Burgess, Papakura District
Cr Bill Burrill, Auckland Regional.

Cr Burrill also collected both Milestone 2 and 3 awards for Auckland Regional Council, as did Cr Rachel Reese for Nelson City Council. Cr Jill Greathead collected the Corporate award completing Milestone 3 for Carterton District.

Genesis Energy – CCP-NZ Energy Management Forum for Local Government

On 3 April the Genesis Energy – CCP-NZ energy management forum was held at Huntly Power Station. Hosted by Genesis Energy at the Huntly Power Station conference centre, it was attended by about 40 CCP-NZ liaison officers and local government energy managers.

The keynote address was from Corrections Department Energy Manager Cees Ebskamp, who spoke about the value of, and success you can achieve by following, a structured energy management programme.

Other technical presentations were on energy management techniques, LED technologies for streetlights, funding energy management projects and benchmarking your council’s energy performance against others.

An excellent tour of the new Huntly e3p combined cycle generator, plus a walk around the conventional coal/gas fired generators, started a valuable discussion with council energy managers sharing their experiences at councils and what was working or not working for them.

Thank you to Genesis Energy for hosting the event.

CCP-NZ staff member rewarded for services to sustainable energy

: Ian Shearer

Ian Shearer, Programme Coordinator in ICLEI Oceania’s CCP-NZ Wellington office, has been made a life member of both the New Zealand Wind Energy Association and the Sustainable Energy Forum for services to these organisations over the years.

Congratulations Ian!

CCP-NZ COUNCILS IN ACTION

Wellington City installs landfill gas generator

In a partnership with Todd Energy, a new generator has been installed at the council's Southern Landfill. The 1MW generator is expected to produce 8GWh of electricity per year.

For more information see the Wellington City Council website.

Earth Hour a great success

Councils throughout New Zealand participated in the March 29 Earth Hour and ensured that as many lights as possible were switched off. The major publicity occurred in the Christchurch area where WWF had funding to actively promote the event.

Christchurch City promotes more sustainability for business

Target Sustainability has been established to provide support to help Christchurch businesses become more sustainable through reducing waste and being energy and water efficient.

Visit the Target Sustainability website for more information.

NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE NEWS

MfE funding for World Environment Day

Preparations for hosting this year’s United Nations Environment Programme World Environment Day on 5 June have continued with the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) promoting and supporting gatherings, celebrations and projects throughout New Zealand that reflect the “Kick the CO2 habit” theme.

Wellington City is hosting the event and there will be a range of activities during the week focusing on energy efficiency and de-carbonising our lifestyles.

Other CCP-NZ councils that have been granted funding from MfE in the first round of applications include Environment Canterbury for events promoting sustainable transport and children-focussed seminars and discussions; Nelson City Council for promotion of a car less day, and support of alternatives; and Waipa District Council for seminars about the importance of wetlands in intensively managed agricultural landscapes.

Other council projects will be included in the second round of funding.

For more details see the MfE website.

New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions data updated

A summary of the annual inventory report for New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions (based on 2006 data) is now available on the Ministry for the Environment website.

The inventory covers the period 1990–2006 and reports that total greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 were 77.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). This is an increase of 15.9 Mt CO₂e (26%) over the 1990 level of 61.9 Mt CO₂e. This less than 1% increase between 2005 and 2006 shows a marked improvement on the previous year.

The increase of 0.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide mainly reflects the increased number of vehicles on the road and growth in the use of coal-fired electricity.

NEW RESOURCES

New guidance document on voluntary corporate GHG reporting released

Recommended methods and data sources for the 2006 calendar year are now available from the Ministry for the Environment website.

An updated version of the GHG Protocol for local government, including comments received by ICLEI following last year’s draft released for comment, is expected soon.

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