Driving up emissions in Hamilton

Hamilton City Councillors have approved a $55 million Climate Action Plan.

Council’s Environment Committee backed the 10-year plan to reduce Hamiltonians’ reliance on personal vehicles and make it easier for people to scoot, bike, and walk around the city.

Research conducted as part of the report established a whopping 64 percent of Hamilton’s carbon emissions come from transport.

Environment Committee Deputy Chair Sarah Thompson told Thursday’s meeting it was important to act with urgency. 

“We’re already feeling the impacts of climate change – the actions in the plan are really important to help us create a more resilient city”

Simon Gascoigne, home performance advisor at Go Eco Waikato, spoke at last week’s meeting of the Infrastructure Operations Committee about the need for projects like Innovating Streets, which has garnered negative backlash from car users.

“We need to ensure our city is prepared for liveability and safety with fewer cars and more biking and walking opportunities – we need to innovate too… we need to take the bus, e-bikes, scooters, and walk. We need to be bold and try out these new innovations ourselves”

Gascoigne’s passionate speech coincided with other Go Eco audience members holding up orange signs with the words “climate action” after they put forward their concerns.

The Environment Committee requested staff prepare a document with targets and timeframes for actions and report back options for the electrification of the corporate fleet to the Infrastructure Committee. The report can be found here