Find out what the Hutt City Council is doing about climate change and how you can help.
Lower Hutt’s carbon emissions and pathway to zero
As a city, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai / Lower Hutt has a goal of halving emissions by 2030, and reducing emissions to net zero by no later than 2050. Net zero means that any greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere are balanced by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere, such as forests soaking up carbon dioxide.
Most of our city’s emissions come from transport (petrol and diesel), stationary energy (power and heating), and waste. Information on our city-wide emissions is available at Lower Hutt Greenhouse Gas Inventory (PDF 1.7 MB).
The Lower Hutt community, through a co-design process led by group of community representatives, has developed the Lower Hutt Climate Action Pathway Te Ara Whakamua o Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai, entitled ‘Our race against time Ka whati te tai, ka pao te tōrea!’
It sets out the pathway for our city to achieve our zero emissions target. This includes switching to electric vehicles and shifting to alternative modes of transport, moving out of fossil fuels to heat homes, and reducing waste. The Pathway’s audience is community and business leaders, influencers and residents who are involved or want to get involved in climate action to make a positive change for our city.
Information on the Pathway’s development, including information on the various community meetings, and workshop design logs, is available at https://haveyoursay.huttcity.govt.nz/communityclimatechange.
How you can help?
Need advice or help to get started on your emission reduction journey? Please go to www.eeca.govt.nz to find stories, tools and a range of actions to reduce your energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Want to know more about the city-wide effects of various actions? Try out Lower Hutt’s 2050 Emissions Calculator, to learn more about what the city needs to do to meet the 2050 target.
Following city-wide progress
We have established a Climate Action Pathway Group, made up of community representatives, to champion the Pathway, and to keep track of our city-wide progress.
This is in addition to Hutt City Council’s Climate Change & Sustainability Committee, which receives reports on progress against the Pathway and Council’s own carbon reduction work. Find out more about the committee’s work at the regular committee meetings.