Fire and Emergency New Zealand will fail to meet emissions targets set by the Government and will be forced to rely on carbon offsetting, amid years of delayed planning efforts, documents show.
Planning documents released to the Otago Daily Times by Fenz under the Official Information Act shows the agency has been slow off the mark and is yet to release its final plan for reducing its emissions, which was scheduled for August.
A business case from September 2020 noted that requests to develop an action plan by June 2020 were made by Fenz’s board to its management as far back as May 2018.
Meeting notes from September 2020 show there was no money allocated to developing a climate change plan at that point, following prioritisation decisions in July influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
About $180,000 in funding was allocated to restart the work.
In December, the Government announced a directive for public sector agencies to be carbon neutral by 2025.
The next year, efforts to plan for the effects of climate change appeared to be hindered further by a math error that resulted in underfunding climate change planning efforts by 42%.
A request for funding made to Fenz’s investment panel in October last year referenced a "formulation calculation error" which meant $184,400 needed for "significant consultancy and stakeholder engagement costs" in that financial year was accidentally not requested. The request was approved.
In February this year, a "project initiation document" laid out the strategy for releasing Fenz’s climate change adaptation and mitigation plan, which would create a road map for emissions reductions over the next 10 years.
The document contains a draft structure, which states Fenz will not be carbon neutral by 2025 and offsetting will be required to meet carbon neutrality requirements.
There would be "practical constraints" around transitioning Fenz’s fleet within a decade and the organisation would focus on setting "realistic and achievable" emission reduction goals.
It emphasised that Fenz’s capacity to respond to emergencies would not be compromised by its efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
The efforts were a priority for the organisation because fires, floods and damage to infrastructure would all be exacerbated by climate change, the draft structure said.
