Auckland Council seeks your view on the $1 billion Climate Fund

While the rapidly increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the community continues to dominate much of our attention, we need to still be thinking of the other, longer-term threat that we face as a society – Climate Change. A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers the bleakest warning yet about the consequences for our planet and for future generations if we fail to take urgent action to reduce carbon emissions and keep global warming below 1.5C. Sustainable future for all UN Secretary-General António Guterres says bluntly that “delay is death” and we need to act now to head off a climate disaster. The report ends with a statement of what is at stake: “a livable and sustainable future for all.” If we fail to act, there will be increasingly frequent severe weather events, people will die, more of the world will become desert, and marine life will diminish. However, while the window of opportunity to take action is rapidly closing, there is still time to avert a climate disaster if we act now. Auckland Council is currently asking Aucklanders if they will support a Climate Fund to create, with government-co-funding, a $1 billion investment to combat increasing carbon emissions, decarbonise our bus and ferry fleets, provide more and better bus services, and plant large native trees in parks and along streets in areas with low forest canopy. Targeted Rate It will be funded by a Climate Action Targeted Rate (CATR) that will cost the owner of a median value residential property around $1.10 per week. This will enable a boost of more than $600 million to deliver new and frequent bus services across Auckland, meaning that more than 1 million Aucklanders will be living within 500 million of an improved bus route. It will provide for 79 new low-emission electric or hydrogen buses, further reducing emissions from our public transport network, and there will be increased funding to deliver up to 35km of walking connectivity improvements and more safe cycling infrastructure, as well as low-emissions ferries. This will give more people the option to get around the city without having to drive private cars—one of our biggest sources of emissions. Planting more trees The CATR will also fund the planting of almost 15,000 mature native trees across Auckland, focused on areas that currently lack tree canopy cover. This tree planting will help make neighbourhoods greener, more beautiful and more pleasant to spend time in and as temperatures increase will provide vital shade to reduce heat vulnerability. Aucklanders’ feedback on the Climate Action Targeted Rate is valuable and will influence whether it is adopted by Councillors in June. I encourage you to tell us what you think of the proposal, suggestions for other steps that the Council could take, including how we could go further and faster towards achieving emissions reductions, are always welcome. Submissions on the Climate Action Targeted Rate, and the items in Auckland Council’s proposed budget, are open now. Please visit akhaveyoursay.nz to find out more and have your say. Phil Goff is Mayor of Auckland. He writes a regular Column in Indian Newslink.