In the face of unfettered growth, we may ask whether our stewardship of our most precious resource, our environment, is sufficiently sound to sustain the basis of our economy – tourism – and our quality of life.

We should applaud QLDC for its green initiatives of waste recycling and composting. These environmental strategies are being pursued by most urban and regional authorities.

Several companies and organisations in New Zealand are pursuing carbon neutrality, to mitigate their impacts on climate change. They’ve sought carboNZero certification by asking Landcare Research to measure their greenhouse gas emissions, develop proposals for reducing those emissions and, as necessary, quantify carbon offsets through planting of new native forest.

Greenhouse gases, the human cause of global warming, are mainly CO2 and N2O, which are emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, coal and natural gas in transportation and thermal power generation, as well as CH4 (methane) which is emitted by ruminant livestock and landfills.

Landcare Research plans to assess the carbon footprint of NZ as a whole.

The exercise goes beyond simple greenhouse gas emissions. It takes account of a full life cycle of direct and indirect emissions, including carbon “embedded” in our production and consumption activities.

A carbon footprint is normally measured in units of CO2 equivalent emitted annually. At some point, Landcare is likely to have the capability to estimate the carbon footprint of specific regions like the Wakatipu.

Retailers and consumers in distant overseas markets are becoming increasingly concerned about “food miles”, as a proxy for embedded carbon from fossil fuel emissions in producing and bringing our food exports from farm to retail.

Similarly, tourists are becoming more discerning about their “travel miles” and the embedded carbon in air travel to their destinations, and the carbon footprint of the destinations themselves.

In the Wakatipu, we produce mainly services.

Almost everything we consume is trucked or flown in – food, fuels, building materials, industrial equipment, supplies – most of it over long distances. Most of our recyclable waste is trucked out. Similarly, our 1.4 million tourists annually arrive by air, bus, campervan or car.

Greenhouse gases associated with our tourism industry and lifestyle are substantial. It should be self-evident that per head of resident population, or per tourist, the Wakatipu bears a heavy carbon footprint.

Opportunities to offset some of our impact on climate change include planting of native beech or managed wilding pine and Douglas fir. Local generation of renewable energy – wind or solar power – is another.

Without such initiatives, we are likely to pay compensation via the Emissions Trading Scheme. In that event, the Wakatipu will become a more expensive place in which to live and visit. Our economy would suffer accordingly.

Our wellbeing in the Wakatipu depends on continued growth of our economy in an environmentally and socially sustainable way.

It behoves QLDC to establish policies for broader diversification of our economy through carbon-offsetting and low-carbon growth opportunities, steering our footprint toward carbon neutrality.

Lake Hayes property owner Ralph Hanan is a former World Bank economist