Masterton District Council will on Wednesday (24 August) deliberate on its draft Climate Action Plan, after receiving 87 written submissions and hearing in person from 23 submitters.

The Council has been working with a climate change community focus group since July 2021 on the plan, part of a two-pronged approach to reducing its organisational and district carbon emissions to net zero carbon by 2050. Its Corporate Carbon Emissions Reduction Plan (CCERP) guides the first stage of its approach.

On Wednesday, councillors will consider the submissions and a recommended refinement of the 118 actions in the draft action plan, developed by staff after an analysis of submissions.

Part of the recommendations to be considered is a refinement of nine initial themes to four:

• Community Empowerment – with the overarching goal of building mana-enhancing relationships to support connected communities to be more resilient to climate impacts.
• 20-Minute Town – increase uptake of low-emission, active and public transport options in the Masterton District so that community/suburb hubs are accessible within 10 minutes for all urban residents.
• Circular Economy District – reduce Masterton District’s contribution to methane emissions from landfills.
• Climate Resilient District – ensure the resilience of our district infrastructure, productive landscapes, and natural environment from current and future climate change exacerbated hazards (floods, droughts, heavy precipitation events, strong wind, landslides, heat stress, wildfires).

A number of sub-goals sit under each overarching goal, along with actions, some of which are already underway as part of the CCERP and other work.

At a regional level, the Masterton District Climate Action Plan will feed into the Wellington Regional Emissions Reduction Strategy that is in development.

Following the deliberations meeting, a Masterton District Climate Action Plan will be considered for adoption by Council at its upcoming meeting on 14 September 2022.

The agenda paper for Wednesday’s deliberations meeting is available on the Council website here.

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