Brief outline of the low carbon town development plan
Wellington City Council has historically adopted two separate target pathways out to 2050 – one for Council operations and the other for the city as a whole. The targets were set in 2007 and based on recommendations for cities from ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) due to a lack of Wellington specific data at the time.
Since that time we have implemented and delivered three key projects.
• The first is a Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Wellington City. The inventory measures emissions generated directly and indirectly by the communities of Wellington City across a number of different sectors including transport, waste, stationary energy, agriculture and forestry. With the release of our latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory in early 2016 we are now able to assess our citywide performance against our targets.
• The second is a publically accessible city-wide energy calculator. The calculator allows users to explore how energy and transport choices shape Wellington city’s carbon emissions footprint and discover which interventions would have the highest impact based on scientific data. Users can vary 31 ‘levers’ that affect how energy is used and produced in the city– such as improving public transport or increasing the number of solar panel installations. The calculator has allowed Wellington City Council to prioritise areas with the highest potential for emission reductions and has informed the review of our city-wide targets.
• The third is the attainment of CEMARS (Certified Emissions Management and Reduction Scheme) certification for Wellington City Council – only the third Council in New Zealand to do so. Council achieved CEMARS certification in December 2015 following a two day audit of the energy and emissions data collected by Wellington City Council and CCOs. Certification means that we can now have confidence that the data we collect is accurate, comprehensive, and a precise measure of how we are performing. This enables us to start measuring our energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction progress against this original audit or ‘baseline’ year and make more informed decisions about our energy management and emissions reduction work programmes. These work programmes will inform the setting of future interim targets for Council Operations.
Climate change action for Wellington
1. Greening Wellington’s growth
(1)Investigate phasing out the Minimum Parking Requirement (MPR)
MPRs are rules in District Plans that require developers to build a minimum number of off-street car parks with any new development – usually one or two parks per dwelling. While there is no MPR for developments within Wellington’s CBD, MPRs do apply across the rest of the city.
We will explore phasing out the minimum parking requirement where it makes sense – starting in parts of the city where car ownership rates are already low and comparable to CBD levels.
Around 1 in every 7 Wellington households already lives without a car. More than 10,000 households in total have no car, and this number rose by more than 1100 households since the last census. The highest concentration of nocar households is in the CBD and surrounding suburbs. We would prioritise looking at removing MPRs for these suburbs and increasing the provision of alternative transport choices. For some places, for example the northern suburbs, it is evident that the requirement is a necessity. But in places close to the CBD it may serve only to limit sustainable development potential which is undesirable given the city expects to add a minimum 50,000 more residents by 2043. It is also important to acknowledge the complex nature of MPRs and ensure that any decisions to remove them is done in full cognisance of the impact on other important transport modes such as public and active transport. For example MPRs may be necessary on arterial routes where parking competes for space with cycle lanes or bus lanes.
By phasing out this requirement we can enable greater transport choice and allow developers, both commercial and residential, to build parking as needed to meet demand rather than creating excess capacity with a compulsory regulation that incentivises car ownership over other transport choices. This has been the practice in Wellington’s CBD for around 20 years, with positive development outcomes. Developers are already incentivised to provide adequate parking in order to maximise the value of their investment. However, with car ownership decreasing on a per-capita basis across the city, and with increasing numbers of Wellingtonians taking advantage of the growing range of alternative transport choices on offer, it makes sense to let the market define what the optimal use of any given space is; be it car parking or some alternate land use.
(2) Investigate incentives for sustainable building solutions
With Wellington City’s population set to grow by at least 50,000 residents over the next 30 years, and a focus on growth in the CBD, we want to ensure that effective incentives are in place for new building developers, and owners of existing buildings, to provide facilities which add to the sustainability of that growth.
Over the next two years, we will investigate what incentives, financial or otherwise, could be effective in ensuring the provision of services including, but not limited to, recycling and food waste collection, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, green roofs and access to building carshare schemes.
(3) Investigate alternatives for sewage sludge disposal
One of the practical challenges that a growing Wellington City will face is how to deal with accompanying increase in wastewater being treated and then sent to the Southern landfill as sewerage sludge.
The amount of sewerage sludge going to landfill has climate change implications in two respects – the greenhouse gas effects of the sludge itself; and the potential impact on the landfill’s emissions-reducing waste minimisation programmes given the requirement for every tonne of sludge to be mixed with four tonnes of municipal waste.
Wellington Water commissioned a Regional Biosolids Strategy in late 2015 to set a regional direction for management of the Biosolids generated by the four wastewater treatment plants that they manage. The Biosolids strategy considered a range of sludge treatment technology and potential end uses, in particular potential beneficial uses (such as disposal to land or energy recovery). In terms of timing any change in sewage sludge treatment at the Southern landfill would best line up with the expiry of the treatment plant operating contract in 2020. We will work with Wellington Water to discuss options for the treatment of sewage sludge to reduce landfill emissions.
(4) Home Energy Saver
The Home Energy Saver scheme offers a free home energy audit to Wellington homeowners, landlords, and tenants. Following the audit participants are eligible for a 50% discount on certain energy saving products up to a cap in order to reduce their energy use and carbon footprint. Since 2011 more than 2000 homes have received upgrades through this program. We are currently working with Victoria University to carry out an evaluation of the scheme in order to ascertain its effectiveness in driving behaviour change when it comes to energy use.
(5) Warm Up Wellington
Warm up Wellington is a subsidiary of the Government’s Warm up New Zealand (WUNZ) scheme. WCC in partnership with EECA, Sustainability Trust, Capital and Coast District Health Board, and Hutt Mana Charitable Trust provides insulation services to low-income homes. WUNZ is a threeyear programme with a target of insulating 46,000 homes across New Zealand.
(6) Continue and evaluate the Smart Buildings Challenge
The Smart Buildings Challenge is a collaboration between Wellington City Council, EECA, Microsoft, Switch Automation, Vector AMS and the Energy Management Association of New Zealand to pilot an energy management tool for commercial building owners. The challenge aims to provide a user-friendly platform which enables building owners to manage and reduce their own energy costs whilst at the same time reducing the carbon footprint of Wellington’s commercial building sector. We currently have 19 commercial buildings entered into the challenge including Wellington City Council’s Central Library Building.
(7) Solar Power
Currently residential solar does not have a large impact on emission reductions given New Zealand’s already high levels of renewable electricity generation currently sitting at around 80%. Solar is also at its most effective during the day when residential electricity demand is lower. However, battery storage technology is rapidly improving and as it improves the potential for solar installations to help reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions increases.
There are also co-benefits of promoting solar in Wellington City. Homes and businesses are more resilient if they have the ability to generate and store their own electricity in the event of an outage.
We will look for opportunities to increase the uptake of solar in Wellington by working with solar providers and utilities in both residential and commercial contexts.