Low Carbon Kāpiti has lodged its submission on the Kāpiti Coast District Council’s Draft Emissions Reduction Plan 2026–2030 – and the headline is a simple one. Cutting emissions isn’t a cost. Done well, it’s one of the biggest savings opportunities the District has.
Our central finding: committed, action-focused leadership could save ratepayers in the order of $100 million a year by 2040 across household, business and Council costs. The technologies to get there already exist and are proven. Communities here and overseas have done the hard thinking. As we put it in the submission, we just need to copy them – and break from a “business as usual” approach that quietly locks in high costs and high emissions for everyone.
What we’re asking for
The submission sets out 17 SMART targets – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-constrained – grouped into three areas:
- Council’s own emissions – understanding and reducing supply-chain emissions from concrete, steel and roading; following Waipā District Council’s wastewater upgrade (set to save $500,000 a year while cutting emissions by around 90%); rationalising and electrifying the vehicle fleet; switching pools and water heating from gas to electricity; and rolling out solar PV across Council sites for immediate electricity savings.
- Community emissions – delivering a low-cost, low-emissions transport system that works for everyone, not just drivers, including safe east–west cycle corridors; and enabling ratepayers and renters to access affordable solar, get off increasingly expensive gas, and make their next vehicle an EV.
- Sequestration – prioritising native planting, pest control and the protection of peat and wetlands, for carbon storage alongside biodiversity, flood protection, resilience and recreation.
Each three-year Emissions Reduction Plan is a step toward Council’s goal of carbon neutrality for the District by 2040 – a path that requires net emission reductions of around 6.3% every year. Credible plans also matter financially: they help maintain the discounted borrowing rate Council currently secures on around $291 million of debt through the Local Government Funding Agency’s Climate Action Loan programme.
Read the full submission
The full submission lays out the evidence, the numbers behind the savings, and all 17 targets in detail.
Download the full submission (PDF)
This is the kind of work we do on behalf of a thriving, affordable, low-carbon Coast — and it’s exactly the sort of plan you can draw on for your own submission. If our mahi resonates, get involved with us.