Repurposing the
Christchurch Convention Centre will be required sooner rather than later in
response to climate change
The Minto for Mayor campaign is warning the
not-yet-completed, half-a-billion-dollar Christchurch Convention Centre will
need to be repurposed sooner rather than later in response to climate change.
The government-funded building depends for its success on
flying tens of thousands of people from all over the world every year for
conferences. Despite this massive carbon footprint, the City Council has not
included this impact in its target for the city to become carbon-neutral by
2045.
This huge hole in the council’s plan cannot be filled by
planting more trees. On a global scale there is simply not enough land on the
entire planet to grow the number of trees required to offset carbon emissions.
Christchurch must focus on cutting emissions. The convention
centre does the opposite.
The council’s current targets are delusional without
including the impact of international air travel.
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