Climate Change Commission Draft Budget Submission Guide (Done in 3 mins!) Due 28th
It’s time again to speak up: tell the leaders to do right by our future – cos if we don’t, they won’t.
If you’re anything like us, you know it’s really important to submit on He Pou a Rangi/Climate Change Commission’s draft budgets for Aotearoa… but it all feels quite big, and as usual everyone’s so busy…
You’re right it is incredibly important. The nuclear-free analogy is true – this is our moment to set the course for our future.
Big call: if you only submit on one topic this year, it should be our national climate response.
And we’ve made it really easy to do a solid submission – with our 3-minute ready-to-serve recipe!
It’s transport and land use-related cos that’s our jam on Talk Wellington, and conveniently low carbon transport is a huge pillar of a low carbon world, and of a much better world.
Read on for our key transport points.- no coincidence – it’s the same messages from all the sensible thoughtful groups.
3 minutes does it! You can take extra time to add your style, or send in as is, either way gets a big thumbs up from our shared future.
If you’ve only 3 minutes just skip the whys and wherefores, and jump to the Submission heading below.
What to say in a solid submission – plus whys and wherefores
Centre Treaty partnership in all legislation development, especially in such far-reaching policy and funding changes as this requires.
- We’re talking proper collaboration, equal partners at the table, not just letting the local iwi know what you’re up to.
- Courtney Bennett shows us what that actually looks like here.
New Zealand must exploit the emissions reductions and other benefits from a decisive mode shift to sustainable (active and public) transport. Walking, cycling, scooting, skating and public transport can, and must, play a much larger part in decarbonising the transport system.
- EVs only reduce lifetime vehicle emissions by 62%, so one for one converting our transport status quo to EVs will certainly not bring us to net zero carbon by 2050. Not to mention that EVs don’t give any of the co-benefits of swapping cars for other modes (EVs = traffic).
- Overwhelmingly, Kiwis drive short trips (over half of our car trips are under 5km) – which are (e-)bikeable, scootable, skate-able and so on. These are the ones that also give loads of co-benefits when done in any way other than a car (see points below). Cycling is already on the up and up, and a low-carbon transport system has lots of safe streets to ride.
- Transport injustice is tightly coupled with emissions-heavy transport: poorer people are locked into carbon-heavy and costly ways of getting around. By a happy coincidence, a fairer transport system (more choices, more flexibility, better social connection, fewer environmental forces giving you crappy public health and forcing you to spend lots of extra money) is also a lower-carbon one.
Make a profound and systemic focus on livable, compact, accessible and equitable neighbourhoods, suburbs, towns, and cities.
- What luck, if you live in a neighbourhood that’s compact, accessible, and liveable, your carbon footprint is much lower – and you don’t even have to do anything special or even really think about it. (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods FTW – see below)
- This looks like 15 minute cities and healthy streets plumbed in as requirements in the design standards, planning structures, and funding systems, not tweaks around the edges
Remind the Government that continuing to expand road capacity is incompatible with addressing climate change.
- We won’t see enough of a mode shift to more sustainable modes if we keep prioritising car travel, and underinvesting in public and active transport.
- Bigger roads never alleviate traffic for long, additional road capacity will always be filled by more cars.
- And NZTA locking us in to car-dependency through major spending projects is just not good enough.
Having minimal focus on health, and particularly on health savings from co-benefits, is a dangerous communication failure on the part of the Commission.
- Co-benefits of reduced kilometres travelled by car have an endless string of benefits. Less greenhouse gas emissions, but also all round less airborne pollutants, less road deaths, a healthier population.
- Ignoring these co-benefits means when policy wonks are considering these recommendations, they’re not getting the full picture and can’t make the best possible decisions
- If we’re serious about not killing ourselves in so many ways with vehicles, and curbing epidemic levels of childhood and adult obesity, we should be jumping on these co-benefit opportunities
SUBMISSION – 3 MINUTES GO!
This recipe below is the simplest – for if you’re on the bus or cooking dinner.
- If you want to dive deeper into this, check out the Climate Change Commission’s website for the draft budget itself and more info.
- If you want to do a more holistic submission, check out this awesome mega guide from a bunch of thoughtful and intelligent groups.
The 3 minute recipe:
Step 1
Step 2
After you’ve put in your demographics, do this:
Step 3
Then
Yes you are! A low-carbon transport and land use system is One Big Thing that’s really transformational.
Step 4
Copy and paste the below (but we recommend you twiddle some bits around so it doesn’t look exactly like everyone else’s).
Centre Treaty partnership in all legislation development, especially in such far-reaching policy and funding change as this requires.
New Zealand must exploit the emissions reductions and other benefits from a decisive mode shift to sustainable (active and public) transport. Walking, cycling, scooting, skating and public transport can, and must, play a much larger part in decarbonising the transport system.
Make a profound and systemic focus on livable, compact, accessible and equitable neighbourhoods, suburbs, towns and cities.
Remind the government that continuing to expand road capacity is incompatible with addressing climate change.
Having minimal focus on health, and particularly on health savings from co-benefits, is a dangerous communication failure on the part of the Commission.
Step 5:
and hit Continue – you’re done!
Bravo!
And of course to maximise the chances of a safe climate future, share, share, SHARE!
Read more:
The overwhelming mandate from Wellingtonians in 2019 to hurry up and do more on low-carbon Wellington
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – they lower everyone’s carbon emissions while making life way better. A brand new report here [PDF])
Image credits:
Banner image – Disarmament and Security Centre
Cartoon – Joel Pett for USA Today
Active (low traffic) neighbourhoods – London Borough of Waltham Forest & Air Quality Consultants
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