Work was under way to ensure school boards did not bear the financial brunt of getting the South’s education sector to net zero carbon by 2025, Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said.
State schools were a big part of the Government’s property portfolio, and work was required to help them achieve net zero carbon, she said.
‘‘We are working with other agencies to determine the nature and extent of emissions reporting for the schooling sector in a way that will contribute to achieving the Carbon Neutral Government Programme outcomes, without increasing the burden on school boards.’’
When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared a climate emergency at the start of December she committed the public sector to becoming carbon-neutral by 2025.
As well as requiring government agencies to buy electric vehicles and reduce the size of their car fleets and ushering in green standard regulations for public sector buildings, Ms Ardern announced an immediate focus on phasing out the largest and most active coal boilers in New Zealand.
But NZEI Te Riu Roa president Liam Rutherford said schools were also in the deal in principle and more work would be done on including them in the coal boiler transition section.
One of the big issues for schools was the initial capital expenditure as the cost of replacing coal boilers could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.
Ms Shannon said about 117 schools in the South Island used coal boilers, including 29 schools in the Dunedin area.
The Government had already pledged $55million, from its State Sector Decarbonisation Fund, this year to replace up to 90 coal boilers with low-emissions alternatives in schools across New Zealand.
To date, projects to replace 29 coal boilers in 26 schools had been announced, she said.
This week, Dunedin’s School Strike 4 Climate, Coal Action Network Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion Otepoti sang ‘‘Christmas Carols Against Coal’’ in Dunedin’s city centre, targeting the Dunedin owners of two Southland coal mines.
