Press release: Emissions Reduction Plan Consultation

EMISSIONS REDUCTION DISCUSSION DOCUMENT LACKS DETAIL AND AMBITION

Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc. (LCANZI) says the discussion document on the government’s emissions reduction plan (ERP), published today for consultation, proposes only modest emissions reductions that fall far short of New Zealand’s obligations under the Paris Agreement and is lacking in specifics about how some of those emissions reductions will actually be achieved.

The discussion document confirms that the government has made in-principle decisions on the first three emissions budgets required under the Zero Carbon Act and has largely adopted the budgets recommended by the Climate Change Commission. LCANZI’s view is that those budgets are not consistent with New Zealand’s Paris Agreement commitment and the purpose of the Zero Carbon Act of contributing to the global effort to limit warming to 1.5C. Those issues are the subject of a judicial review application by LCANZI against the Climate Change Commission and the Minister for Climate Change which is scheduled to be heard by the High Court in February.

LCANZI co-founder James Every-Palmer QC said: “Over the last three decades we have relied on CO2 removals from forestry instead of tackling how much we emit. However, during the 2022-25 budget period forecast forestry removals are around 10 Mt per year lower than they have been for the last decade. Accordingly, the 2 Mt per year reductions hoped for in the discussion document will be dwarfed by the fall in removals, and our net emissions will increase significantly over this period at the very time when the science says they must be falling rapidly.”

“When we've held fire on tackling emissions in order to come up with a plan, the modest scale of the reductions proposed in the discussion document is deeply disappointing.”

Among the serious policy gaps in the discussion document is the fact that New Zealand’s largest emissions source, agriculture, is not expected to make any contribution to emissions reductions for the first budget period from 2022-2025, and the regulatory framework for managing agricultural emissions after 2025 remains uncertain. Transport is the only sector for which the discussion document sets out specific targets.

President of LCANZI, Jenny Cooper QC, commented that: “More than 5 years after we signed the Paris Agreement, and almost 2 years after the Zero Carbon Act came into force, it is frustrating that agriculture continues to have a free pass and that the government is still at an early stage of developing policies in key areas such as energy and industry. We have only a few years left to preserve the chance of limiting warming to 1.5C. We need bold and decisive action to cut emissions right now. Unfortunately, the discussion document reveals that developed policies are lacking in many areas. The government can’t put off the hard choices any longer. It must act with urgency to produce a detailed plan that can be implemented without further delay."

Further information: For more information about LCANZI please see our website:

For any additional comment please contact:

Jenny Cooper QC: jcooper@shortlandchambers.co.nz. Tel: 021 632260.

James Every-Palmer QC: james.everypalmer@stoutstreet.co.nz. Tel: 027 5801616.