Budget too weak on climate - Commission

The Climate Change Commission has written to the government saying the Budget doesn't do enough to solve climate change.

"We need to do more," commission chair Rod Carr wrote to Climate Change minister James Shaw yesterday.

The independent commission has the job of setting New Zealand on a workable path to becoming carbon neutral. It said it was encouraging to see announcements in research, forestry, improving bush and wetlands and tightening the Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as rail and insulating homes.

"These investments go some way to helping us achieve our climate change goals, however our concern is this Budget does not take us far enough," said the letter.

"As the Government’s independent climate change advisor, we believe it is our responsibility to provide feedback on the Budget and consider how it will impact the country’s ability to achieve our climate goals," it said.

"We have reached the point where climate change needs to be the focus for New Zealand’s investments."

The commission has already shown it is not afraid to be proactive by offering advice to the government.

In April, it wrote to Shaw and other ministers warning an emissions-heavy spend-up to stimulate growth after Covid-19 would only compound the virus crisis with a climate crisis.

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Yesterday's letter urged the government to make sure the 8,000 new state houses that are planned were built as "model homes that use innovative green technologies. There is an opportunity to develop and manufacture these in New Zealand using timber with high-embedded carbon and materials with low-embedded emissions."

As for the rail upgrade and the $400 million budgeted for replacing the Interislander ferries, the commission warned KiwiRail against "falling back on diesel and bunker fuel locomotives and ferries because it appears cheaper."

"Any estimate of life-time operating costs should be required to assume a significantly higher cost of carbon emissions. We also believe a serious investigation into how the new ferries could be run using a low-emissions technology is essential for New Zealand to meet its emissions target."

The Budget set aside funding for re-training and up-skilling people, and the commission urged a re-think of how major sectors such as agriculture and tourism could be re-shaped to provide jobs yet lower emissions.

Like environmental and other groups keeping tabs on climate action, the commission has high hopes for the $20 billion of unallocated funds still set aside to aid in the recovery from Covid-19. That pot of funds could be used for large, transformational projects that will set New Zealand up for the future, the commission said - but it was crucial to get it right, because the money could only be spent once.

Climate activists' reaction to the Budget was a blend of cautious optimism about the investments in rail, housing and nature-based projects and strong disappointment that the biggest government spend-up in history offered little funding for directly tackling climate change.

While the rail network, waterway restoration and home insulation all received a boost, Greenpeace described direct investment in climate action as "loose change", considering the overall size of the spend-up.