Students all over New Zealand rallied together in 2019 to call on councils to declare a climate change emergency. Now, BOPRC is resetting its stance on their response. Photo / File
The people in charge of the Bay of Plenty's response to climate change have chosen to "reset" their action plan, more than a year after declaring a climate change emergency.
On June 25, 2019, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council declared the emergency, a decision that meant the council would
prioritise projects and policies that would help reduce carbon emissions. It came after climate change protesters petitioned New Zealand councils.
In a regional council Strategy and Policy Committee meeting last week, councillors agreed to change tack. Environmental strategy manager Toi Moana Stephen Lamb said the first year had been "focused on getting our own house in order, building a better picture of our organisational carbon footprint and how we account for climate change in our decision making, setting us up well for next steps".
The council wanted the next iteration of the action plan to be "more strategically focused to inform overall direction across the many things that council does, with a clear vision and direction for our role and position on climate change", Lamb said.
"Because climate change is front and centre as a strategic priority for the coming Long-term Plan, it was good timing to revisit our action plan and check with our communities on our direction."
