Achievable blueprint for addressing climate change released
Beehive media release: 9th June 2021
The Climate Change Commission’s blueprint for addressing climate change has confirmed the Government has made good progress to reduce emissions, but a step up is now required.
The Commission’s final advice sets out the total amount of emissions New Zealand must cut over the next 15 years. It also provides three different pathways the Government could follow to keep within the proposed emission budgets.
“The Commission’s final advice shows that this Government is taking action to reduce emissions in all the right areas,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“The transition to a low emissions future for Aotearoa New Zealand will create jobs and new opportunities for Kiwi businesses, help reduce household energy bills, and secure our recovery from COVID-19. There will also be benefits to health because of warmer, drier homes, more walking and cycling, and less air pollution.
“The Commission makes clear for the first time that delaying action will only make the effort harder and more expensive for the economy in the long run; it predicts that not taking action now will cost us 2.3 percent of GDP by 2050, almost double the cost to our economy of acting now.
“It is smarter and cheaper to act now, and that’s why we’ve spent the last three and a half year laying the foundations for a prosperous, low-emissions economy.
“But we can see from the Commission’s advice there is more to do.
“We need to ensure the way we get around, how we grow our food, and where we get energy from to keep our homes, schools, and hospitals warm is consistent with our climate targets.
“How we’ll do this will be set out in an Emissions Reduction Plan that will be published before the end of the year.”
Climate Change Minister, James Shaw said the release of the advice marks a significant moment in the work this Government is doing to build a low emissions future for Aotearoa New Zealand.
“We have done more to fight the climate crisis in the last three and a half years than the combined efforts of governments over the last three and a half decades, including becoming one of the first countries in the world to put the 1.5 degrees global warming threshold into law.
“However we are yet to see a sustained decline in the pollution we put into the atmosphere. And even when we do, we need to ensure that decline continues and, in fact, picks up pace, every year until we hit net-zero. The Commission’s advice makes clear that this is possible, but only if we act now.
“They have set out a pathway that would need every part of the Government to come to the table and commit to further action to bring down emissions in their sector. If we can do that, then we can reverse the current trend and finally bring emissions down in line with what science requires. There will be work for everyone to do, so from now on nearly every Minister will, in some ways, be a Climate Change Minister.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Commission for their hard work, analytical honesty and rigour. What they have achieved will have a lasting impact on the type of planet our children inherit from us,” James Shaw said.
The Commission received more than 15,000 submissions in response to its draft advice.
“I would like to thank everyone who took the time to share their views with the Commission.” Jacinda Ardern said.
The Commission’s final advice sets out a pathway for reducing emissions across a range of sectors, all of which the Government is making progress on.
Find out more about the advice from the Climate Change Commission.