Transport plans tunnel into promises of carbon neutrality

The Greens are welcoming the Wellington City Council’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2012, and say this demands a rethink of yesterday’s call for two new tunnels and a new highway to be built in Wellington.

Councillors yesterday voted to adopt a Climate Change Action Plan, which includes emission reduction targets.

“It’s fantastic to see the Council making firm plans to achieve reductions in emissions, though hard to see how this gels with the Mayor’s statement that a new Mt Victoria tunnel and a new state highway should be a high priority, regardless of what submitters say,” Green Party Wellington Transport Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

“If the Council is serious about living up to its stated goals and publicity material on becoming New Zealand’s first climate neutral city, it really has no alternative than to scrap its plan for building carbon-inducing tunnels and a new state highway to the airport, and opt for a world class, modern mass transit system instead.

“Encouraging more cars onto the roads is a counter-intuitive approach to lowering emissions,” Ms Kedgley says.