A leading academic has described Christchurch City Council’s plans for addressing climate change as “a quick throw-together of bullet points”.

Professor Bronwyn Hayward, a Canterbury University political scientist and climate change researcher, described climate action within the 10-year budget as poorly articulated and lacking objectives, data and allocated resources.

She made the comments while presenting to councillors on Tuesday as part of ongoing public hearings on the council’s 10-year budget and climate change strategy.

Hayward holds a key role on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body for climate science.

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In 2018, she was the only New Zealand author on a key report that outlined the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Hayward urged the council to identify its biggest climate change vulnerabilities and then measure how it was addressing them across time.

“We can do a lot better than this, it’s just a quick throw-together of bullet points to be honest,” she said.

She was also critical of the proposed Tarras airport, being pushed by Christchurch Airport, which is 75 per cent owned by the city council. Councillors will vote on whether to officially raise concerns about the proposal later this week.

Hayward also offered to provide a panel of staff from Canterbury and Lincoln universities to offer the council expert advice.

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