What Council is doing on climate change

The Kāpiti Coast District Council is committed to demonstrating leadership on climate change. We declared a climate emergency in 2019 and adopted a Climate Emergency Action Framework in 2021. We want to build a thriving, resilient, low-carbon Kāpiti that is prepared for climate-related challenges and opportunities.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation have been part of many Council activities for quite some time. For other activities, we're just starting to think about what we must do. There is much more for all of us to do.

Climate emergency action

We're proud of our climate change efforts but understand it can be difficult to get a clear picture of the work Council has been doing (and has planned) to reduce our carbon footprint and prepare Kāpiti for climate change.

To make it easier to get an understanding of our past, present and future mahi, Council is committed to regularly reporting on how we are walking the climate talk. We release progress dates regularly. You can see the most recent at:

• Climate Emergency Actions 1 January–31 December 2024 [PDF 373 KB]
• Climate Emergency Actions 1 January–31 December 2023 [PDF 479 KB]
• Climate Emergency Actions 1 July–31 December 2022 [PDF 304 KB].

In 2022, we also published Climate emergency action: Delivering on our climate commitments.

Reducing Council emissions

We started measuring our organisational emissions in 2010 and developed our first Carbon and Energy Management Plan in 2012. We have made good progress in achieving ambitious targets.

To reduce our emissions, we’ve done things like convert our district streetlights to LED, reduce sewage sludge emissions, transition from using coal to wood chip fuel at the wastewater treatment plant (for which we won the Excellence in Climate Action – Medium Organisation in the 2019 Toitu Envirocare Awards), and improved the efficiency

of our vehicles and buildings. Many of these actions have also lowered Council’s operational costs by improving energy efficiency.

We're continually looking for opportunities to reduce organisational emissions. Some of our planned projects to further reduce emissions include:

• installing a solar array on the Paraparaumu civic centre and library
• removing gas heating from both the Ōtaki and Waikanae pools and looking for energy efficiency improvements at Council’s other facilities and buildings
• continuing to decarbonise Council’s vehicle fleet
• introducing an electric rubbish truck for public litter bin collections
• monitoring new and emerging technologies to reduce the emissions impact of food and other waste
• planting trees and regenerating natural areas to further reduce and offset carbon emissions
• continuing to reduce through business-as-usual delivery, such as reviewing staff travel policies, and other improvements to business practice, such as upskilling our staff in sustainable procurement.

For more information about how we monitor and report Council’s emissions, see Emissions - Kāpiti Coast District Council.

Districtwide emissions reduction

We support households, businesses and the wider community to reduce emissions and seize the benefits of decarbonisation. These benefits include saving money by adopting more energy efficient technologies, building warmer, drier and healthier homes, improving energy security and resilience, and creating more vibrant and better-connected communities.

Council has set an aspirational goal to reduce Kāpiti district emissions to net zero by 2040. ‘Net zero’ means reducing emissions as close to zero as possible, and ‘offsetting’ any remaining emissions through carbon sequestration, such as planting trees.

Our Emissions Reduction Strategy sets out how we will work with the community to achieve this aspirational goal and maximise the benefits of reducing emissions for everyone who lives and works in Kāpiti. 

Council has a number of programmes to reduce districtwide emissions:

• A 10-year programme of works to further enhance the walking and cycling network across Kāpiti by improving connections between our major towns, transport hubs, and key recreation routes.
• Establishing seven electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the Kāpiti and Horowhenua districts, with funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) Low Emission Vehicle Contestable fund.
• Enabling greater density closer to services and rapid transport hubs in urban areas, and working with communities to develop town centre plans that include a low carbon focus.
• The Zero Waste Education Programme, which is available free to all primary schools in Kāpiti.
• Establishing the Otaihanga Zero Waste hub and distributing Waste Levy Grants, which fund community groups and businesses to progress new and novel ways to reduce their waste.
• Trials of new composting programmes to reduce food and green waste going to landfill across Kāpiti.
• Regular workshops for developing sustainable and resilient communities.

For services that are delivered by other agencies, like public transport, Council actively works to build relationships and advocate with government agencies for better services in our district. You can read our submissions at Submissions we have made.

Preparing our infrastructure

To ensure the continuity of our core services, our approach to adaptation is to maintain and protect essential public assets. This includes maintaining and protecting essential public assets like the infrastructure and services that support our community – things like our three waters (drinking, waste- and stormwater) and our transport assets, as well as some non-critical infrastructure like community halls, libraries, pools and playgrounds.

Programmes of work we've recently completed, or are still carrying out, to increase the resilience of essential public assets include:

•  A prioritised programme of major and minor stormwater projects. This started in 2018, with an initial focus on upgrading the systems in areas where homes have experienced flooding above floor level during severe storm events.
• Various upgrades to water supplies (based in Ōtaki, Hautere, Waikanae, and Paekākāriki) to ensure continuous compliance with water safety standards, to be followed by further upgrades in coming years.
• Renewals and upgrades of existing assets across the water network – designed and prioritised with consideration of climate change and other natural hazard predictions, to ensure a reliable distribution of potable water across the district.
• Planned renewals to the wastewater system over the course of our Long-term Plan, designed to improve energy efficiency and enhance containment resilience with consideration of climate change and natural hazards predictions.
• Improvements to the transport network and the adoption of standards that support network resilience, particularly on key lifeline routes that can experience flooding or landslips during severe storm events.
• Ongoing maintenance of beach outlets, sea walls, and rock revetments to protect Council’s essential coastal assets and prepare for storm surges to the extent practicable.

Where our work could affect private property, we work with local communities.

Regional action

Council is an active member in the Wellington Regional Climate Change Working Group.

You can find out more about what the Greater Wellington Regional Council is doing at Climate change: Our biggest challenge.

Awards we've received