Emission targets in Christchurch off track - are cruise ships to blame?

The latest emissions report by consulting firm AECOM also estimated that in the 2023 financial year, cruise ships produced around two percent of the city’s gross emissions.  

The city council met last Wednesday to discuss the report, but despite the ships being mentioned in the report, they were not included in the city’s total net emissions.  

Michael Apáthy from Climate Liberation Aotearoa was at that same meeting, asking for the ships to be included while putting them under scrutiny.  

“One cruise ship is actually the equivalent of one million cars. It’s ultrafine, mostly invisible, so we don’t think about it, but the cost that we’re paying is very, very real. 

“Cruise ship passengers dramatically underspend compared to the alternative, when tourists instead choose to fly in.”  

Councillor Yani Johnson mentioned the need for a potential environmental levy on cruise ships, and the concern that passengers using “buses that would predominantly be diesel”.  

Council Team Leader for Climate Resilience Lisa Early then responded to the idea of a levy by saying factors around the cruise ships would need to be considered, including legal options the council may have and if ports were able to allow them to “plug in electrically”.   

Apáthy told Metro News the idea of an environmental levy on ships would be a really good step, so long as the money is managed properly.  

“They need to stop spending rate payers money on subsidising highly polluting and unnecessary industries, but also they need to look at where we can put these levies and help put that money into badly needed adaptation and mitigation.” 

Other statistics included in the report show in the last financial year, 54 percent of Christchurch’s emissions come from transport, whereas 38 percent is caused by on-road transport. 

Other emitters include stationary energy at 21 percent, agriculture at 16 percent and five percent for other processors, all amounting to over 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.  

Councillor Aaron Keown says he’s “gobsmacked” by the overall one percent decrease in emissions between 2017 and 2023, feeling that the money already invested in climate initiatives is billions gone nowhere.  

However, others like Deputy Mayor Pauline Cotter say the report is not damning but rather a “good report” with some “positives in there”, mainly referring to a two percent decrease in car emissions and 19 percent reduction in bus emissions since 2019 thanks to an increasing electric fleet.  

A report is coming to council in May on the actions being taken to meet the emissions targets, which could very well see elected members deciding on whether a levy could be put in place.