Government sets climate change target to curb CO2 emissions 7 Jul 2015
Related articles
- NZ consumers grow more upbeat, may resume spending Business
- Brownlee Leads Aviation Mission To Shanghai News
- NZ looking at all avenues on whaling issue News
- Knowles quits as CEO of KiwiBank Business
- NZ migration bolstered by British invasion Migration
- Sludge Report #192: The Naked Budget Columns
- Budget 2010 – Building the Recovery News
- NZ manufacturing activity reaches highest since 04 Business
- NZ dollar hits 22-month high vs euro Business
- Budget provides $321m for RS&T activities News
Government sets climate change target to reduce CO2 emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2020
By Fiona Rotherham
July 7 (BusinessDesk) - The government has announced a new climate change target that aims to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and a review this year of the existing Emissions Trade Scheme as part of its policy mix to meet the new targets.
Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser said the new target was a significant increase on its current target of 5 percent below 1990 emission levels by 2020. It was equivalent to a reduction of 11 percent below our 1990 emissions levels by 2030 and is similar to the approach of other significant players including the United States and Canada, Groser said.
The target will be economy wide including agriculture and forestry and covers all greenhouse gases.
The intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and remains provisional pending confirmation of the approaches to be taken in accounting for the land sector and confirmation of access to carbon markets.
All countries are expected to table targets as part of work towards a new climate change agreement which is due to be concluded at the COP21 meeting in Paris in December.
“While New Zealand’s emissions are small on a global scale, we are keen to make a fair and ambitious contribution to the international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the most harmful effects of climate change,” Groser said.
Already 80 percent of New Zealand's electricity is renewable and around half our emissions come from food production for which there aren’t yet cost-effective technologies to reduce them.
That means there are fewer opportunities for New Zealand to reduce its emissions right now, Groser said. However, he's optimistic about the future as the investment in agricultural research begins to bear fruit and the cost of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles continues to fall. “In five to ten years we’ll be in a good position to reduce our emissions in both agriculture and transport,” he said.
The government has committed $45 million to the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases out to June 2019 and a further $48.5 million through the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre for research into technology to reduce agriculture greenhouse gas emissions.
The detailed rules and guidelines for national reduction targets are unlikely to be set until after the Paris meeting.
“In order to achieve domestic reductions and to do so at an affordable cost, we have identified a need for cost-effective mitigation technology, and in particular, that our continuing investment in agricultural research delivers results that can be commercialised within the time period covered by this contribution,” the INDC statement said.
In 2013 New Zealand produced around 400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per unit of GDP, of which 48.4 percent came from agriculture and 21.9 percent from transport.
New Zealand’s longer term emissions target is to reduce emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
A University of Waikato study out today said New Zealand businesses want the government to show greater leadership around carbon, waste and water issues.
The study’s findings are important for the government as it prepares for Paris climate change conference later this year, said report co-authors Associate Professor Eva Collins and Professor Juliet Roper from the University’s management school.
Collins said there is a general consensus that New Zealand’s ‘clean and green’ brand is critical to exports and could be jeopardised if environmental problems are not addressed.
However, many businesses are reluctant to invest more in sustainability initiatives until the government provides long-term regulatory certainty and level the playing field, she said. Lack of government leadership has seen companies stop measuring their carbon footprint or put their carbon strategies on hold.
The findings are based on a 2013 survey of 520 business owners, the fourth carried out as part of a Marsden-funded research project examining New Zealand’s sustainability practices over the past decade.
(BusinessDesk)
News
Hilary Timmins' Award-Winning UK Documentary Series To Inspire NZ Students
29 Jun 2020 Education
Dream Catchers, produced and directed by Hilary Timmins, celebrates the success stories of more than thirty inspirational New... more
New Zealand reaffirms support for Flight MH17 judicial process
7 Mar 2020 News
Ahead of the start of the criminal trial in the Netherlands on 9 March, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has reaffirmed the need to... more
Business
NZ Government's Economic package to fight COVID-19
17 Mar 2020 Business News
The Coalition Government has launched the most significant peace-time economic plan in modern New Zealand history to cushion the... more
NZ Government announces aviation relief package
19 Mar 2020 Business News
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today outlined the first tranche of the $600 million aviation sector relief package announced earlier... more
Living
Diversity was Key at New Zealand Trade Tasting in London
6 Jun 2022 Food & Wine
New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Trade Tasting was recently held in London, on Wednesday 4 May, in Lindley Hall.
It was the first... more
Kiwi author stuns Behind the Butterfly Gate
12 Jan 2022 Arts
Hidden behind the Butterfly Gate is where the secret has been kept for 76 years...
New Zealand writer Merryn Corcoran’s... more
Property
Fairer rules for tenants and landlords
17 Nov 2019 Property
17 NOVEMBER 2019
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer... more
New Zealand Government will not implement a Capital Gains Tax
17 Apr 2019 Property
The Coalition Government will not proceed with the Tax Working Group’s recommendation for a capital gains tax, Jacinda Ardern... more
Migration
Boosting border security with electronic travel authority – now over 500,000 issued
19 Nov 2019 Migration
19 NOVEMBER 2019
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to... more
Christchurch reinstated as refugee settlement location
18 Aug 2018 Migration
18 AUGUST 2018
HON IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY
The announcement that Christchurch can once again be a settlement location for refugees... more
Travel
Gallipoli Anzac Day services cancelled
19 Mar 2020 Travel & Tourism
The New Zealand and Australian Governments have announced this year’s joint Anzac Day services at Gallipoli will be cancelled... more
New Zealanders advised not to travel overseas
19 Mar 2020 Travel & Tourism
New Zealanders advised not to travel overseas
more
Sport
The Skipper's Diary: Sir Richard Hadlee honouring his father and NZ's Forty-Niners
27 Oct 2019 Cricket
NZNewsUK London Editor Charlotte Everett spoke to Sir Richard Hadlee about why he’s chosen to publish his father’s... more
PREVIEW: All Blacks v England semi-final
26 Oct 2019 Rugby
The two most convincing quarterfinals winners are set to square off in a semifinal showdown for the ages when the All Blacks meet old... more
Columns
Gordon Campbell on the Gareth Morgan crusade
11 Nov 2016 Opinion
Gordon Campbell on the Gareth Morgan crusade
First published on Werewolf
The ghastly likes of Marine Le Pen in France and Geert ... more
Gordon Campbell on the US election outcome
10 Nov 2016 Opinion
Column - Gordon Campbell
Gordon Campbell on the US election outcome
Well um.. on the bright side, there (probably)... more
Kiwi Success
Congratulations to Loder Cup winner
26 Sep 2018 People
25 SEPTEMBER 2018
The Loder Cup, one of New Zealand’s oldest conservation awards, has been awarded to Robert McGowan for 2018... more
Appointments to New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
16 Aug 2018 Appointments
16 AUGUST 2018Appointments to New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO
HON JENNY SALESA
Associate Education Minister Jenny Salesa is... more
Recruitment
Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
14 Aug 2018 Recruitment
14 AUGUST 2018Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
RT HON JACINDA ARDERN
HON CHRIS HIPKINS
Prime Minister
The... more
Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
22 Aug 2018 Recruitment
14 AUGUST 2018Historic pay equity settlement for education support workers
RT HON JACINDA ARDERN
HON CHRIS HIPKINS
Prime Minister
The... more