The Minto for Mayor campaign is warning the not-yet-completed, half-a-billion-dollar Christchurch Convention Centre will need to be repurposed sooner rather than later in response to climate change.

The government-funded building depends for its success on flying tens of thousands of people from all over the world every year for conferences. Despite this massive carbon footprint, the City Council has not included this impact in its target for the city to become carbon-neutral by 2045.

This huge hole in the council’s plan cannot be filled by planting more trees. On a global scale there is simply not enough land on the entire planet to grow the number of trees required to offset carbon emissions.

Christchurch must focus on cutting emissions. The convention centre does the opposite.

The council’s current targets are delusional without including the impact of international air travel.

© Scoop Media