Collaboration | ISCA and Christchurch City Council Sign Memorandum of Understanding
28 June 2019
Christchurch City Council recognises
that
climate change is having a critical and significant impact on their
environment. This is echoed through the commitments and actions
taken by the Council to provide leadership on climate change such as:
setting a carbon neutral by 2030 goal; joining the Compact of Mayors for
Energy and Climate; new sustainable
procurement requirements, and the
revision of its climate smart strategy in 2019.
On the 23rd May the Council declared a Climate Emergency, a similar and
necessary approach taken by world leading local governments. With
climate change leadership a publicly announced strategic priority,
Christchurch City Council is making it clear that business as usual is
no longer an acceptable solution.
In another bold move, the first of its kind across Australia and New
Zealand, the Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) to measure,
monitor and report on the Council carbon load across its infrastructure
asset portfolio.
Councillor Sara Templeton, Chair of the Climate Change Working Group,
attended ISCA’s #ConnectNZ Infrastructure Sustainability Summit in
Auckland in May, executing the MOU with Ainsley Simpson, ISCA CEO.
As part of a panel on climate and carbon, Councillor Templeton confirmed
the weight of Council’s commitment, noting “that going forward
Councillors will review all decisions with an additional lens of climate
risk - a bold and essential step that reflects the scale and speed of
change needed.”
The MOU sets out a collaborative pathway with Council as well as actions
to support the Council’s infrastructure supply chain in making this
rapid transition. Mrs Simpson commended Council for already updating
their procurement policy to include sustainability as a priority.
Deployment of ISCA tools provides the next step to begin recording a
baseline and consistently measuring progress towards carbon neutrality.
She further commented that “We are looking forward to working with
Council to help increase awareness and the use of tools that can help
the city reach its zero net emissions goals. Using the IS Materials
Calculator will help drive and deliver measurable improvements from
infrastructure.” Infrastructure enabling transportation and waste
management inherently have high emissions profiles.
Suppliers can find out more about ISCA’s tools through an online
program. For more information
visit
https://isca.org.au/Get-Involved/Training
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Source: ISCA - www.isca.org.au
Contact: N/A
External Links: https://isca.org.au/Get-Involved/Training
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