Taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a priority for our community, and a focus for many organisations across Tauranga.

Tauranga City Council has a target of reducing its emissions by 15% by 2024 from our 2018/19 baseline. The council recently completed two greenhouse gas emissions audits under the Toitū CarbonReduce Certification for the financial years (FY) 19/20 and 20/21.

The council emissions for the 2020/21 FY were 10,973.06 tCO2e, which were 9% lower than the base year total of 12,101.27 tCO2e. These emissions were 5% higher than the 2019/20 FY, this was a year that our operations were impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown starting in March 2020.

The emissions reductions achieved to date are the result of several council activities looking at their energy consumption and implementing actions to reduce it. Over the last couple of years, we have worked on projects around operations of the wastewater treatment plant which has ultimately helped in reducing the emissions. Streetlighting is one of our highest electricity users, undertaking the LED retrofitting project has brought down its electricity consumption by almost 45% when compared to our 2018/19 baseline.

The council’s Energy Advisor, Raghu Purelli, explains why it is a priority for council to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is important for us to lead by example and take active measures to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, not only for our environment but to lessen the cost of energy consumption for our facilities and services,” says Raghu.

The council joined the Toitū CarbonReduce programme in 2018 to gain a good understanding of our energy sources, and greenhouse gas emissions. This has allowed us to focus efforts on reducing emissions in the highest generating areas, such as its wastewater treatment plants, and electricity consumption in building and street lighting. Progress is tracked, measured, reported and verified by Toitū in accordance with ISO14064-1 or PAS 2050 to maintain certification.

“We are focused on reducing emissions by continuing to work with staff to identify opportunities for reduction projects,” says Raghu. Those underway include a fleet optimisation and transition study, energy audits of The Historic Village and Tauranga Airport, lighting and HVAC upgrades at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, and several wastewater treatment and water supply facilities infrastructure improvements, transitioning Beachside Holiday Park from natural gas to electricity for hot water usage and also planning to conduct energy balance within the high energy using sites to identify shortcomings and fill the gaps with appropriate projects.

Raghu also highlights the role that council staff play in reducing emissions. “Simple things like switching lights off in facilities that do not currently have automatic sensors, reducing the amount of waste generated in the office, and working more flexibly (e.g., online meetings) all make a difference to our emissions each year,” he says.

The next audit for the 2021/22 FY will occur in late 2022 and will include Bay Venues for the first time. Bay Venues has been working with the council to identify and implement energy savings measures in its facilities. They have already undertaken an energy audit of Baywave TECT Aquatic and Leisure Centre to identify energy savings projects and are beginning an energy audit of Trustpower Baypark.

It is hoped that the work the council is doing will inspire other businesses in Tauranga to take action to reduce their emissions. “We all have to do our bit to reduce emissions. By doing this, we will lessen the impact of climate change,” says Raghu.

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