Emission Control

The legislation outlines the government’s targets over the next 30 years (by the year 2050) of net greenhouse gas emissions of zero and to reduce methane emissions by up to 47%.

 According to the Ministry for the Environment, the Act ‘provides a framework by which New Zealand can develop and implement clear and stable climate change policies that:

• Contribute to the global effort under the Paris Agreement to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and
• Allow New Zealand to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects of climate change.’

Key points

Under the Act, the government has committed to:

• Set a new domestic greenhouse gas emissions target for New Zealand to reduce net emissions of all greenhouse gases (except biogenic methane) to zero by 2050 and reduce emissions of biogenic methane to 24–47% below 2017 levels by 2050, including to 10% below 2017 levels by 2030
• Establish a system of emissions budgets to act as stepping stones towards the long-term target
• Develop and implement policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and
• Establish a new, independent Climate Change Commission to provide expert advice and monitoring to help keep successive governments on track to meet long-term goals.

The Act was modelled on the 2008 Climate Change Act in the UK, which helped reduce that country’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 44% compared with 1990 levels.

 The ambitious new targets mean that New Zealand cannot maintain the current levels of CO2 emissions. Nor is it enough to offset our emissions by planting millions of trees, which has largely been the way New Zealand governments have dealt with the issue in the past. 

Instead, we will need to make some massive cuts to our carbon usage over the next 10 to 20 years.

Want to know more? read the full issue HERE