LGFA updated its Climate Action Loan Lending Programme for council and council-controlled organisations (CCO) members in September 2025 and is now pleased to announce that Napier City Council (NCC) have been approved as the eighth borrower to draw down under the programme.
NCC has set a near-term target to reduce its operational emissions by 63% by 2035, working towards a target of net zero by 2050. NCC have set out an approach to achieve their near-term target in their Emissions Reduction Plan 2025-2035 (ERP), which was adopted by Napier City Council’s Prosperous Napier Committee in August 2024.
NCC’s ERP plan sets out how they will reduce their own emissions whilst also influencing city-wide emissions.
Emission reduction actions include replacing fossil fuel gas with alternative low-carbon energy sources and ensuring the NCC’s infrastructure projects are designed and built with a focus of whole of life cycle impacts. Other initiatives include scoping potential reduction opportunities, embedding emission reduction across the council’s activities and demonstrating commitment and leadership.
NCC is also the first borrower to receive the CAL GHG assurance subsidy now, launched in December 2025 to support the cost of assurance of organisational GHG emissions inventory.
Climate Action Loans (CALS) are target (or incentive) based lending structures designed to encourage borrowers to measure and reduce their organisational greenhouse gas emissions. A CAL rewards a borrower through a margin discount if that borrower has adopted an Emission Reduction Plan (ERP) which sets out specific Emissions Reduction Targets (ERT). CALs are targeted to all borrowers, including those who may not have eligible projects to access Green and Social Loans (GS).
As at February 2026, NZ$4.1 billion of CALs Loans have been extended to CAL borrowers.