Utes get the boot as climate change alarm bells ring louder at city council
Hamilton City Council is giving almost all of its fleet of 71 utes the boot as part of the organisations efforts to cut down on carbon emissions. Investigations are also under way into the costs and time it would take to get almost all the councils corporate fleet running on electric power. The councils environment committee recently approved the 2021/22 Climate Change Action Plan, a document that outlines steps the organisation must take to address climate change, reduce emissions and increase the citys resilience to climate events. But, at a meeting on Thursday, councillors Dave Macpherson and Angela OLeary, among others, criticised the nebulous nature and lack of clearly identified targets in the latest version of the plan. READ MORE: * Hamilton becoming less and less safe at night, survey reveals * $1.17m funding shortfall for zoo project, as funding agencies fail to help out * Beauty of proposed Hamilton arts panel in the eye of many beholders One main target has been identified: a 50 per cent reduction in councils gross greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. Initiatives such as making much less use of a natural gas-fired engine at the sewage treatment plant, and more use of LED lighting were helping with this, as was the purchase of six hybrid vehicles in the past financial year. Macpherson reckoned the hybrids only did half the job and ditching the councils fleet of Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux utes was a better means of reducing emissions. I have seen staff go out in these diesel utes and the boot bit never gets opened. Never gets touched. They dont need them. City waters unit manager Emily Botje confirmed this was happening. I think 96 per cent of them dont need to be utes, and we are working towards replacing them over the next 12 to 18 months. It is estimated about 64 per cent of the 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) net emissions the city produces each year comes from transport with diesel and petrol fumes from road vehicles comprising the bulk of this. Macpherson added he had been horrified to recently learn that council planners had made provision for 611 car parks in the soon-to-be-constructed Rototuna Village Shopping Centre. There was no reference in the staff report [on the development] to environmental issues ... That is out of kilter with what we are facing. That is not responding to climate change issues or crisis. Lets get ahead of the game, instead of being dragged along behind, kicking and screaming. OLeary called for more targets to be clearly identified in future plan. You cant manage what you dont monitor ... Also, we need to take the public along [on] this journey of climate change. An assessment of our fleet has been done and more than 90 per cent [of the utes] are not used as utes. The climate action plan, which is revised every year, is part of a budgeted $55 million spend over the next 10 years to reduce Hamiltonians reliance on private vehicles, and make it easier for people to walk, ride, scoot, and use public transport. Another big element that has already been deemed a success is the changes made to the councils rubbish and recycling service, which began in August 2020 and is now diverting 51 per cent of the citys waste away from landfill a big increase from the 28 per cent when the new scheme was introduced. Committee deputy chairwoman Sarah Thomson called for the staff to investigate measurable targets for the electrification of the corporate fleet. The latest reports that came from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paint a pretty bad picture and call for more urgency than what we are currently giving to climate change, she said. It really is time for us to take a broader view of what we are doing ... [and] look at where we can push harder. Certainly the window is closing now.