NZ's environmental priorities criticised

CARYS MONTEATH/The Press

SMOG: Improving urban air quality and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems should be the highest priority, NZIER said.

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New Zealand is too focused on reducing greenhouse gases and meeting climate change obligations, according to a new study.

New Zealand's environmental priorities were "not well targeted", the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) said.

A change in focus could improve environmental and economic outcomes.

Improving urban air quality and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems should be the highest priority, NZIER said.

"This is because of the high loss of life quality and premature death from the former and the high proportion of species at risk that are unique to New Zealand."

Meeting international climate change obligations and working to achieve an international agreement were also important, but reducing greenhouse gases was not, NZIER said.

"Actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a low priority for New Zealand.

"Water demand management and water allocation rank high because of their potential to affect availability and cost of water for production and consumption processes."

Waste reduction and waste management business support should also be a low priority because "landfill space and the employment pool have high substitutability and limited externalities".

NZIER questioned the prominence of some sustainability policies of recent years.

"Overall, we suggest the need for some rebalancing of climate change policy away from a focus on emissions reduction."

Environment Minister Nick Smith told Radio New Zealand sustainability had been a "mushy" catch-cry for 20 years under the Resource Management Act.

The NZIER report was taking the environment debate a "new leap forward".

"That's saying actually we need to do better than just the soft fuzzy sustainability, we need to have some robust analysis around priorities," he said.

"When you're 0.2 percent of global emissions you can reduce your emissions completely and that is not going to substantially change the future climate."

NZIER was right to focus on biodiversity, Dr Smith said.

A number of species in New Zealand were unique and "on the brink of extinction".

- NZPA