Christchurch Airport’s plan for a brand new runway at Tarras has a recent set of opponents: professors involved it will “fatally undermine” local weather targets.
In 2020, Christchurch Airport introduced it had bought 750 hectares close to the picturesque Central Otago city of Tarras, an hour’s drive from Queenstown.
Residents had been stunned. Some plan to contest the proposal, with one farmer refusing to promote a parcel of land important to the venture. Eleven academics – from local weather scientists and tourism researchers to Māori and indigenous research leaders – are lending their voices to the battle, publishing an open letter.
The runway could be large enough to serve wide-bodied jets, permitting long-haul flights out and in of the airport. Long-haul air journey produces plenty of climate-warming gases on prime of water vapour that heats the ambiance.
The open letter was despatched to Christchurch Airport, but in addition new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, his deputy Carmel Sepuloni, Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger, Christchurch councillors and Otago councillors.
The council owns a 75% share in Christchurch Airport, with the remaining shares owned by the Crown.
The letter famous that each homeowners had declared local weather emergencies. “We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to put a stay on the Central Otago Airport proposal.”
The airport would create further flights, the academics stated. The design left sufficient room for the airport to increase its operations after it opened. “This approach is fundamentally at odds with the urgent need to halve carbon emissions by 2030 in accordance with Paris 2015 climate commitments.”
The academics stated they had been “not anti-airport, anti-aviation, anti-business or anti-development”.
As properly as setting home local weather targets, the Government adopted a worldwide aim for net-zero aviation emissions by mid-century. “Building a new airport catering to conventional wide-body jet aircraft would fatally undermine this goal,” the professors stated.
Avoid flying
A airplane journey – notably a short-haul flight – is among the highest-emitting actions most individuals will undertake of their lives. A big jumbo jet will burn a litre of fossil-derived gasoline each 15 seconds. In addition, the vapours from aeroplanes assist clouds to kind, which traps further warmth from the solar within the ambiance. For these causes, swapping a airplane journey for a Zoom assembly or a lower-carbon practice journey is a double win for the local weather.
Prototype electrical passenger planes have accomplished check flights, and might journey shorter distances. But zero-carbon planes are usually not but accessible to airways, and face “enormous technical challenges”, the letter argued.
New Zealanders have excessive per-capita aviation emissions, the academics stated.
“Government is asking others – such as the farming sector, the public sector and the energy sector – to take urgent and major steps to curb emissions.”
Signatory James Higham stated it will be morally fallacious to construct the airport. “Given the available research and data, and there is plenty of it, it makes no sense whatsoever to build a new airport at Tarras – or anywhere else in New Zealand for that matter.”
The group will publish a set of analysis, to again up the factors raised of their letter, Higham stated.
The letter was signed by:
Professor Jonathan Boston, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, Victoria University
Professor James Higham, Professor of Sustainable Tourism, University of Otago
Professor Bronwyn Hayward, Director of The Sustainable Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research Group, University of Canterbury
Professor Shaun Hendy, Centre for Science and Society, Victoria University
Distinguished Professor Robert McLachlan, School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Massey University
Professor Ilan Noy, Chair within the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Victoria University
Professor Steven Ratuva, Director of the MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury
Professor James Renwick, Professor of Physical Geography, Victoria University
Distinguished Professor Dame Anne Salmond, Māori Studies, University of Auckland
Professor Huhana Smith, Head of Whiti o Rehua School of Art, Massey University
Professor Anita Wreford, Agribusiness & Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University
Christchurch Airport, Christchurch City Council and State-owned Enterprises Minister David Clark had been all contacted for remark.
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Say no to planned Otago airport, academics urge
Say no to planned Otago airport, academics urge
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Say no to planned Otago airport, academics urge