Phil Goff
Auckland, April 15, 2022
The latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released on 4 April, confirms that urgent action is needed to reduce carbon emissions if the world has any chance of averting a climate disaster.
It states clearly that we are running out of time to make deep cuts to emissions if we are to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Scientists tell us that global emissions need to fall by 45 per cent this decade to achieve this goal—and yet the world is on track to increase emissions by 14 per cent.
In Auckland too, emissions are continuing to rise, despite recent climate change efforts that have included investing in more electric bus services, cycling and walking infrastructure and tree planting. It is clear that stronger action is needed.
We are already seeing the dire impacts of climate change, with increasingly severe flooding, unprecedented heatwaves, and drought affecting Auckland and New Zealand.
Auckland Council targets
The destruction caused by climate change will only escalate if we do not act. Failure to cut emissions now will consign our kids and grandkids to growing up in a world wracked by environmental damage, species extinction, deadly storms and wildfires, and rising sea levels.
However, it is not too late to act, and Auckland has a role to play.
Auckland Council has proposed a Climate Action Targeted Rate that, with government funding, will enable a billion-dollar investment in climate action across Auckland. It will reduce emissions, improve public transport, walking and cycling, and increase tree canopy coverage across the region.
The Climate Action Targeted Rate will cost around $1.12 per week for the median-value residential property, now worth more than $1 million. While it will not on its own solve all our climate challenges, it will enable us to lay the foundation for the urgent changes we need to make to avert a climate disaster.
These changes will help us avoid the worst impacts of climate change while improving our transport system, greening our city, and making Auckland a more sustainable and equitable place to live, work, and visit.
Auckland Council consulted on the Climate Action Targeted Rate as part of its Annual Budget 2022/23 consultation, which closed on 28 March. The Governing Body will now consider feedback, deliberate and make decisions for the final Annual Budget, with a final decision expected in late June.
Phil Goff is Mayor of Auckland. He writes a regular column in Indian Newslink.
