Queenstown sets “very ambitious” net zero target

Aerial view of twilight Queenstown. Suitable for tour image. This is the most popular and famous tourist destination and attraction in New Zealand. This image is taken from hill top.

The industry is on the path to carbon zero and some are keen to hit that mark very soon.

One of these is an Aussie favourite ski destination just across the Tasman Sea: Queenstown.

The spot has revealed plans to be carbon zero by 2030, with electric jetboats, gondola access to mountains and hydrogen or battery hybrid flights leading the charge.

“It’s a very ambitious move but one we’ve taken only after a huge amount of research, community, council and business engagement and planning,” Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’re now putting those plans into action.

“With a growing number of visitors every year, especially from Australia, we felt they were in danger of losing their warm welcome as they put so much pressure on infrastructure and on the environment, but this is a regenerative tourism strategy that we feel will protect the future for generations to come.

And setting it for 2030 creates a real sense of urgency.

Queenstown’s decarbonisation scheme, which is aiming to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and axe greenhouse gas emission, includes Air New Zealand using green hydrogen or battery-powered aircraft.

Queenstown’s wraparound rooftop deck

Hotels are being encouraged to cut back on emissions and the prototype of an electric jet boat is being tested for the Shotover Jet. Queenstown’s steamship, the 1912 TSS Earnslaw which cruises on Lake Whakatipu, is being converted to hydrogen or electricity.

“These are all important examples of what it is possible to achieve, with the will,” said Destination Queenstown marketing director Sarah O’Donnell. “A lot of operators and businesses had already started to take action off their own bat, anyway.

“But we’ll be helping all these innovations evolve in an environmentally friendly way. As a result, we can demonstrate that tourism can add value to the lives of people who both live in Queenstown and to their visitors, and not have a negative impact.”

While Queenstown is striving for carbon zero emissions, only seven tourism areas ins Australia have achieved global standard ECO Destination certification by Ecotourism Australia. Three of these areas have set net zero targets: the Blue Mountains in NSW, Bundaberg in Queensland and Augusta Margaret River in WA.

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