United States President Donald Trump could help Dunedin to achieve climate aspirations, a city councillor says.
When Cr Steve Walker visited a bike shop recently, he learnt they had run out of e-bikes and this was attributed to the Strait of Hormuz effect.
The strait is one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels and it has effectively been blocked by Iran since the US and Israel attacked the country at the end of February — leading to fuel price rises.
Cr Walker also described strong demand for e-bike parking at the Dunedin City Council as a good problem to have.
‘‘Who would’ve known that somebody like me would be thanking President Trump for his empowering of some of my dreams?’’
Councillors were discussing a comprehensive report last week about the council’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Its emissions were down 34% on the 2018-19 baseline year, provisional data suggested.
However, emissions in the last six months of 2025 were 5% higher than for the same period in 2024.
Cr Walker said he expected a downward shift in the coming years.
Conflict in the Middle East could be a catalyst for lowering transport emissions around the world, he said.
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said Mr Trump had created more interest in electric vehicles.
People were driven by the fuel crisis to rethink their activities — if lowering carbon was not top of mind, the back pocket might be, she said.
Ms Barker said the city was committed to lowering its carbon footprint.
Its elected representatives had a moral duty to target sectors that would have the biggest impact, such as waste management and transport, she said.
Cr Lee Vandervis said the council’s devotion to emissions reduction had ‘‘cost us many millions of dollars’’.
Cr Russell Lund said the council should ‘‘wait for solutions to reach the mass-market stage’’, when costs of implementation would be lowered dramatically.
Cr Brent Weatherall struggled to see value in the council’s comprehensive reports.
‘‘If we expect the public to support this work, we owe them transparency, simplicity and accountability,’’ he said.
Council staff said the 5% increase in emissions was partly explained by a technical change in how they were measured relating to landfills.
