The University of Otago has agreed to join Dunedin’s Zero Carbon 2030 Alliance, at a closed-door session of the university council.
The university agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Dunedin City Council to partner with the council and others to cut emissions in the city, a university spokeswoman said.
The matter was discussed by the university council in private last week due to commercial sensitivity and so as not to prejudice the university in its negotiations, the spokeswoman said.
The university is a founding member of the alliance, which replaces the inactive 2015 Dunedin Energy Leaders’ Accord.
As such, the university took part in formal discussions with the city council last year.
Among the agreed commitments in a draft memorandum made public in March, each alliance member must create an emissions profile and share it with their alliance partners to help identify areas where a joint approach to emissions reductions could be of benefit.
The university’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory in 2019 showed long-haul international flights, contributed the most (18%) to its carbon footprint, followed by coal for producing steam and hot water (15%), electricity (13%), food (13%) , domestic air travel (10%) and waste sent to landfill (6.4%).
Like the city council, the university has already committed to being carbon neutral by 2030.
Earlier this year, the Otago Regional Council agreed to take part in the alliance, though some councillors said they would prefer a region-wide, rather than city-wide, approach to emissions reductions.
Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin-based runaka, and the Southern District Health Board are also founding partners of the zero carbon alliance.
