For the past year or two, those of us with climate-induced anxiety have been on a ride. Things have been going downwards, be it heatwaves, typhoons, floods etc, destroying communities and shattering lives. With such threats now evident, you would think that climate change would be front and centre of everyone’s minds. Well, not for everyone it seems.

Stuck in an economic model from the 20th century, Wellington Airport has begun its expansion. Its first (baby) step consists of removing the hill south of the airport, and trucking the soil to Silverstream.

As many in the community recognised even before any shovel was planted in the ground, the carbon cost of the expansion will not only come from the 50% more planes that will land and take-off from Wellington (370 movements a day upon completion of the expansion), but will also be boosted by the construction of the expansion itself. Indeed, the thousands of truckloads to carry the soil is not, you guessed it, performed with trucks running on hydrogen, rather with good ol’ diesel. And the Airport says this will continue until early next year.

Wellington City Council owning a third of the Airport is fully complicit for supporting this antiquated project. While it invites us to ditch our cars, drive a bike or hop on a bus, it seems no-one at the council is interested in tackling the 25% of the city’s transport carbon emissions which are coming from the Airport.

However, there is great hope. When she was a mayoral candidate, Tory Whanau was explicit that she opposed the Airport expansion:

tory tweet

She was right to oppose the expansion: no technology is anywhere near ready to enable sustainable flying. The most optimist players in the industry, such as Airbus, are saying the first prototype of electric jets will not be seen in the sky before 2035. For the aviation sector, as pointed out by the Climate Change Commission, our only way to reduce emissions is to fly less, not expand airports to enable more flying.

In a rare moment of coherence in politics, Tory Whanau as a candidate was aligned with the Greens policy for Wellington:

tory green platform

After accepting endorsement by the Greens, and embracing their policies, she was elected as Mayor. She also sits on the board of the Wellington Airport. And she has a Greens colleague – Thomas Nash – who is chair of the Regional Council’s Transport Committee.

So there is one simple question for the new Mayor of Wellington:

‘Tory Whanau, as a candidate you made it clear that you opposed the Airport expansion. Now as mayor. what have you done and what will you do to stop or delay the expansion, to help Wellington reach its carbon emissions targets?’

This is a real and important question. Let’s hope for a real answer.