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New approach to our aviation This item was submitted by Paul Callister, an economist and research associate at Victoria University, and Robert McLachlan a mathematician at Massey University.
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When good nights go bad Kia ora Wānaka. Here is a snippet of what the local constabulary have been up to this week. We all like to go out and enjoy ourselves and have a social drink. However, going out shouldn’t turn you into superman or superwoman or a MMA/WWF superstar. There is absolutely no reason why going out should turn in to a violent affair. Police attended a couple of incidents this week where an outing to a local establishment has turned violent between patrons. This is not the answer and you will find yourself in a spot of bother if you engage in any form of violence or similar behaviour. Police attended a number of family harm incidents this week. All incidents varied from minor to serious. Alcohol and drugs, children, money and mental health were all factors in the incidents attended. If you need help don’t be shy to ask or seek it. Don’t forget the Wānaka Community Networks at the Community Hub, 34 McDougall Street, Wānaka has a number of agencies that are there to help. I’m sure most of you would have heard about, observed or come in to contact with the increased Police presence last Wednesday. Police were out and about reminding road users of their obligations when operating a motor vehicle. Restraints, mobile phones, speed, impairment and stopping at stop signs were the focus for this day. Unfortunately, there were many failures in these areas and many infringement notices issued. Please be a prudent driver and be respectful of all other road users. It wouldn’t be a crime line without a mention of the continuing trend of drinking and driving. Wānaka is a small community and I’m sure you all know of someone who has been affected by drink driving in some way or form. Don’t be that person or the next person to be caught over the limit. You not only put yourself at risk but you also put the community at risk. Make the
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PHOTO: Wānaka Sun
right decision. A reminder to all that winter is well on its way. We have already had a couple of frosts. Please ensure your windscreens are clear before travelling and you plan to leave a few minutes earlier than usual to travel to your location. This may also be a timely reminder to give or get someone to give your vehicle a once over and check window wipers, defrosters, heaters, tyres and fluid levels are all tickety boo. Finally, an ongoing issue in Wānaka is the use of mobile phones whilst driving. The Rotary Club of Wānaka and Police are teaming up to try and improve this dangerous practise. Many vehicles have the ability to set up hands free calling through blue tooth. This can be slightly tricky for some to set up especially if you don’t have a 13-year-old you can call upon. If you would like to bring your vehicle and phone to an event with experts to help, please register your interest with Mike Elliot, email melliot144@gmail.com. If there is enough interest a date and location will follow. Keep up the good work Wānaka, look after each other and our community. Wrap up warm and see you all out there. – By Adrian Kerin Acting Sergeant, NZPD
Paul Callister
Robert McLachlan
When discussions turn to its proposed new international airport at Tarras, Christchurch Airport operators are keen to focus on their world-leading “green transition”. And on its own terms, it is impressive. Emissions from ground-based operations have been cut, and the remainder offset, leading to a claim of carbon neutrality in 2021. But airport emissions are dwarfed by the enormous emissions of the planes themselves: aviation was responsible for 12 per cent of New Zealand’s CO2 emissions in 2019. And airports are a vital component of the industry – no airports, no flights. Airport expansion and aviation growth are joined at the hip. This is an industry with a proven ability to increase emissions at a staggering rate: New Zealand’s international emissions were up 40 per cent in the four years to 2019, domestic up 20 per cent. And one factor in that is the convenient fraud that international emissions somehow “don’t count”. They are not in our national climate targets or carbon budgets. International flights are not charged any fuel excise tax or GST, and are not in the Emissions Trading Scheme. But all this may be about to change. At the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow, New Zealand joined 21 countries in the “International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition”: New Zealand will unveil “ambitious and concrete” plans to reduce aviation emissions this year, in time for a UN meeting in September. In response, we have written a detailed report looking at all the options. What would such a plan look like for New Zealand? One of the key questions is growth. The past two years have seen a wave of new ambition around the world, with many commitments (including by Air New Zealand) to net zero aviation by 2050. But this just cannot be reconciled with the short to medium term impossibility of technological solutions (such
as long haul low-emission planes and lowemission jet fuel), the Paris Agreement, and the industry’s wish for unlimited growth. For example, we think that it could just be possible for New Zealand to build three sustainable aviation fuel plants by 2035, two using forestry waste and one fully synthetic using just water, carbon dioxide, and renewable electricity. The cost might be $2 billion, and the uncertainties – considering that no such commercial plants are in operation anywhere in the world – large. But even this would supply just eight per cent of New Zealand’s aviation fuel at 2019 levels of demand. And the fuel would be expensive. A common response when we raise these concerns is that flying is better than the alternatives for a particular trip. Unfortunately, that argument ignores the fact that the very convenience of flying encourages vastly more travel, which then becomes normalised and embedded in the economy, from decisions about where to live and holiday to where to invest and what products to export. The fact that flying is better for the passenger on one particular trip does not justify any amount of growth or any amount of emissions. Until we get a national plan for decarbonising aviation, local opposition to growth can be effective. Locals have stopped the planned expansion at Wānaka through the courts. A new CEO at Queenstown Airport, Glen Sowry, is radically scaling back growth plans, partly in response to local opposition. However, flying remains fundamentally problematic. Sowry said, “Airlines will fly where people want to go. The ability to leave work on a Friday in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and be in [Queenstown] for dinner, on the ski field the next day, ski all day and be on the plane the next day, there is high appeal in that.” And that’s the problem in a nutshell.
THURSDAY 09.06.22 - WEDNESDAY 15.06.22
THE WĀNAKA SUN
