Kāpiti Coast District Council wins Excellence in Climate Action award

Innovative work by the Kāpiti Coast District Council to reduce its emissions by 76% over the last 10 years has been recognised in the 2019 Enviro-Mark Solutions Awards.

The Awards are a biennial celebration of businesses certified under the CEMARS and carboNZero programmes that have shown exceptional leadership in climate change mitigation and environmental action.

This morning, the Council took out the Excellence in Climate Action (medium organisation) category at the Enviro-Mark Solutions Awards breakfast in Auckland.

This isn’t the first time the Council has been recognised by Enviro-Mark Solutions for managing its carbon footprint. In 2017, it received the Overall Award for Outstanding Performance in Carbon Management and in 2018, was confirmed as the leading certified CO2 equivalent emission reducer in the CEMARS programme.

“This award is fantastic recognition of our commitment and perseverance in reducing our emissions,” says Sean Mallon, Group Manager Infrastructure Services.

“As a coastal district, climate change is a particularly significant challenge for our communities and for us, this means committing to tangible actions now that contribute to the safety and wellbeing of current and future generations.

“Simple changes can have big impacts. A great example of this was converting 4,700 of the district’s 4,786 sodium vapour street lamps to new white light-emitting diode (LED) lights. This initiative alone avoids 1.05 million kWh of electricity use each year at a projected saving of around $130,000.

“We’ve also focused on supporting the wider community in reducing emissions through a range of collaborative projects including the installation of EV Fast Charging Stations around the district and supporting a community solar farm project at the Ōtaki Wastewater Treatment Plant that, when completed, will harvest energy from the sun to power the wastewater treatment process.”

In May 2019, the Council declared a climate change emergency in Kāpiti and committed to pursuing the goal of carbon neutrality by 2025.

“Carbon neutrality is an ambitious target but we have already proven that, by taking an active leadership role, we can achieve big things. We will continue to implement initiatives and look for innovative ways to keep reducing emissions as part of our ongoing commitment to the Kāpiti Coast community,” says Mr Mallon.

To read more about the Enviro-Mark Solutions Awards, visit https://www.toitu.co.nz/news-and-events/news/inspiring-action/2019-enviro-mark-solutions-awards