Candidate climate scorecards
Low Carbon Kāpiti wants voters in the local body elections for 2019 to know where the candidates stand on climate change. We teamed up with the Common Climate Network Aotearoa, Generation Zero and the Kāpiti Climate Change Action Group to distribute a questionnaire to district council candidates asking them the hard questions – whether climate change was a priority for them if elected, if they supported the council’s goal of going carbon neutral as an organisation by 2025 and their ideas to reduce emissions internally and in the community. A high-level summary is below.
| Candidate | Running for… | Overall score |
| Sophie Handford | Paekakariki – Raumati | A+ |
| Asher Wilson-Goldman | Districtwide | A- |
| Gwynn Compton | Districtwide/Mayor | B+ |
| Janet Holborow | Districtwide | B |
| Martin Halliday | Paraparaumu/Mayor | C+ |
| Nigel Wilson | Districtwide | C |
| Rob McCann | Districtwide | C |
| Angela Buswell | Districtwide | C |
| James Cootes | Otaki | C- |
| Mike Cardiff | Districtwide | D |
| Iride McCloy | Waikanae | D |
| Jocelyn Prvanov | Ward | D |
| Mark Benton | Paraparaumu | D |
| Bede Laracy | Paekakariki-Raumati | D |
| Rosalind Derby | Districtwide | D |
| Jackie Elliott | Mayor | E |
Those KCDC candidates not listed here did not respond to our questionnaire.
Full results can be found here: https://commonclimate.nz/2019/09/20/local-government-scorecards/
- Detailed scorecard: https://commonclimate289444824.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/kapiti-coast-district-council-scorecard.pdf
- Raw questionnaire answers: https://commonclimate289444824.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/survey-kcdc-responses.xlsx
In addition, stuff.co.nz did a shorter, nation-wide candidate questionnaire on climate change. Some of the Kapiti candidates that did not respond to our questionnaire did respond to Stuff’s, so we recommend that you read both, and even compare a candidates responses between the two.
You can read the Stuff questionnaire results ‘The Voting Climate’ here.
Please note that Stuff’s question 10 “Councils should reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (excluding methane, if applicable) from their own operations to net zero” is ambiguous. A responder could agree with the ‘net zero’ part, but disagree with ‘excluding methane’ part. As such, the candidate’s response to Q4 “Councils should do everything in their power to help limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels” may be a better guide as to where they stand on councils taking action to reduce emissions.
Finally, the Spinoff did a nationwide rating of candidates on climate based on publicly available information that you can find here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/local-elections/21-09-2019/these-are-the-climate-deniers-fudgers-and-prevaricators-running-in-our-local-elections/