Kiwis do an about-face on greenhouse targets as Ardern plans dumped
As doubts pile up on the commitment of New Zealand’s right-leaning coalition to reducing greenhouse gases, new figures show the country’s emissions have grown for the first time in five years.
Stats NZ has released its latest emissions estimates, showing a 0.5 per cent increase in the year to March 2024, the first annual rise since 2019.
The news comes just after the worldâs hottest-ever day â with global average surface air temperature measured at 17.09C on Sunday â and NZâs latest emissions-cutting plan.
Under Jacinda Ardern-era legislation, an independent Climate Change Commission sets âemissions budgetsâ which governments must then form plans to meet to stay in line with NZâs Paris Agreement commitments.
Last week, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts unveiled the governmentâs 2026-2030 plan, with more emissions than the previous governmentâs proposal.
The projections also showed NZ missing its 2035 and 2050 net zero commitments, which has been codified into law.
Mr Watts said he wanted NZ to âboth grow the economy and deliver our climate change commitmentsâ.
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Behind the governmentâs new strategy is a bold goal to growing renewable energy, build thousands of public EV chargers, improve waste management and use carbon capture technologies.
The Chris Luxon-led coalition has delayed efforts to price agricultural emissions â the countryâs most polluting sector and a hugely divisive challenge â to 2030.
It has also shelved many of Labourâs previous plans to cut emissions in a multi-billion dollar savings drive.
Under the former executive Mr Luxon, the government has released a corporate-style 100-day plan and two quarterly plans since coming to office, tracking its work and priorities.
An analysis of the 125 action-points on those three plans show just one project which would reduce the countryâs emissions trajectory: a national policy statement on renewable energy generation, which is yet to be made public.
In contrast, more than a dozen of the governmentâs action points would plainly increase emissions.
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They include ditching a major South Island pumped hydro scheme, axing fuel taxes, ditching a clean car discount that has led to far fewer electric vehicles being bought, and stopping work on an Auckland light rail project.
It also includes a reversal of a ban on new oil and gas exploration, which Mr Luxon says is necessary for âenergy securityâ.
Mr Luxon and his ministers are derided by opposition parties as climate science deniers for their policy reversals.
Asked the last piece of climate science which shocked him, Mr Luxon said he âtypically read the IPCC reportsâ, the last of which was issued in 2023.
Budget cuts have also made top climate scientists redundant.
This week, Radio NZ reported four climate modellers have been axed from a 10-person team at NIWA, a state-owned science company.
Olaf Morgenstern finished up after 15 years and is taking up a similar role in Germany, with a parting shot for NZâs new approach.
âWe would be truly in dire straits if everybody else followed New Zealandâs commercial ideology because weâd be sleepwalking into a climate disaster,â Dr Morgenstern told Radio NZ.
âIâm worried about the health of the system in the longer term, and also the fate of my colleagues, who are very good people and donât deserve to be treated like this.â
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins said the government had no urgency to tackle climate issues.
âIt would be good if they did have an agenda to reduce New Zealandâs emissions. They clearly donât,â he said.
âYou canât offset your way out of the climate crisis.
âAlmost every decision that this government has taken in this area have increased the overall level of emissions that New Zealand is producing and therefore will have to reduce.â
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