Gore district councillors have decided not to endorse an international treaty which aims to replace fossil fuels with sustainable energy.
Councillors considered a letter from Anglican Bishop of Dunedin the Rt Rev Steven Benford at its meeting last week, asking Otago and Southland mayors to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
Council chief executive Stephen Parry tabled a report at the meeting regarding the letter.
In his report, Mr Parry said the proposed treaty sought a binding plan to stop new coal, oil and gas projects and manage a global transition away from fossil fuels.
"The proposed treaty would complement the Paris Agreement by providing a global road map needed to halt the expansion of fossil fuel and transition to cleaner and more climate-friendly energy."
Mayor Ben Bell said he thought it was "fair" for councillors to discuss the request even though "it’s not typically what we deal with at local government".
Cr John Gardyne said the district’s economy relied heavily on agriculture and also had substantial coal reserves.
"One day we may want to mine that and it may be able to be burnt cleanly or used for industry.
"We don’t want to sign up to a treaty to ban us from using that resource.
"We need all our options open for the future and if we want to keep our standard of living those sort of options we need to keep."
Crs Andy Fraser and Robert McKenzie said they agreed.
As Mr Bell was about to put forward the motion to receive and note the Rt Rev Benford’s letter, Cr Gardyne questioned whether the request should be rejected.
Cr Richard McPhail said it would not be "probably incorrect" to reject the treaty in the present environment.
"I think we should be just sitting in that middle of the road at the moment and actually receive this."
Crs Gardyne and Fraser were the only members to oppose receiving and noting the letter.
