Simon Watts: Climate Change Minister defends emissions reduction plan which is no longer on track to meet third target

The Climate Change Minister is defending his emissions reduction plan after revealing it's no longer on track to meet its third emissions budget. 

This is despite being on track under the policies of the last government. 

Projections published at the end of 2023 based on policies from the last Government, showed the country hitting its first three emissions budgets. Under new projections published today, which incorporate decisions the new Government has made to bin a host of Labour-era policies like decarbonising heavy industry and subsidies for EVs, the government will sail 17 Mt CO2-e above that third budget, which runs from 2031–35.  

The government is on track to meet its current budget, emissions budget 1, and the second emissions budget.  

An emissions reduction plan is a document the Government releases under the Zero Carbon Act. It is meant to set out policies that will help the Government to meet its emissions budgets on the way to hit the Government’s ultimate goal of net zero emissions for long-lived gasses in 2050. The Government has one more emissions budget to deploy to hit its third budget.  

The Government released its draft plan today for consultation. A final plan will be published before the end of the year. 

The new reduction plan includes investing in electric car chargers, waste minimisation, and planting thousands of hectares of pine and native trees. 

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts told Mike Hosking this plan has a short-term focus. 

He says the initiatives will support the struggling economy while also still hitting the first two targets. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More climate change material for you with the release to
day of this one hundred and thirty two page sit
aside some time for that today. It's one hundred and
thirty two pages, maybe over sandwiches at lunchtime. One hundred
and thirty two page emissions reduction plan, it's the second
of its kind, outlines our emission budget from twenty six
to twenty thirty. Our government was on track to meet
all the targets through to thirty six, but that's changed.
We're likely now to miss by about seventeen million tons. Anyway,

(00:22):
the Climate Minister Simon Watts is with us morning, not
at all. What do we get today? Do we get
targets or do we get reality? Are we going to
get there or are we not going to get there?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Look, we get both. We get a plan that is
backed by initiatives that we've been are going to be practical,
maintain our economy while also reducing emissions. And we're making
sure that the initiatives that we're going to do are
going to support our economy through what is a difficult
phase now while also doing what we need to do
in the future. And that's the balancing act that we're

(00:51):
having to do do you.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Run the risk of having so many targets, so much
paperwork that people lose interest.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No, we've tried to do as much as we can
to simplify by this plan. Our plan this time is shorter,
it's more concise. It's focused on the big dots that
are going to move us in the right direction, and
that's around doubling renewables. It's about the work that we're
doing around giving farmers a tool to reduce submissions in
the agg space. And we're confident that our plan is

(01:19):
going to allow us to get to the targets that
we're seeing. It's going to be challenging, but we're being
pragmatic around the process to get there.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
When you say farmers, they're not in yet.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Look, the difference between the last plan and our plan
is that pricing isn't going to be coming in first
January of next year. But also the reality is is
that we're not going to be decimating the agricultural sectory
because that was going to be the outcome under the
last plan. But for us, we're giving tools to the
farmers to be able to reduce submissions and we've got

(01:50):
some examples in modeling around some of those tools within
our plans.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
And where does the science come into this? And how
do we know what science is going to do? Is
it not possible? Science will save us all? And therefore
we don't need to panic now?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, look at our view, is that actually agricultural science
breakthrough is going to be that we've given some examples
around low methane genetics, We've got methane inhibitor examples that
we've modeled, and while they're preliminary modeling, there are some
pretty significant upsides around that. New Zealand is a significant

(02:23):
opportunity in that space. We back our farmers and that's
why we put more money into R and D, which
we think is the key area to reduce emissions, not
putting in pricing without giving them the tools.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
How tangible is the actual model in your view? In
other words, if you look at a Peter Dutton in Australia,
he says, this Paris thing is pie in the sky
and we're getting out of it. Why are we so
hell bent on trying something that may or may not work,
knowing full well that a US and India or China
aren't going to get there. We know we're not going
to get there and even if we don't get there,
nothing actually happens.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, Look, the difference between New Zealand and Australia is
we've got an abundance of renewable energy. We've got significant
oportuy unities within our own economy to be able to
realize more, particularly renewable electricity, which will allow us to decarbonize.
We've got all these assets and resources at our advantage
and we need to use that. That's the way that

(03:15):
the economies are transitioning, and we're well positioned to do that.
But we have to balance the realities of our particular
ad sector as we go on that journey, and we've
aimed to try and maintain a bit of pragmatism in
terms in terms of that plan. But as I say,
we are on track to hit our domestic targets based
on the plan that we've published today.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
All Right, appreciate time. Simon wants Who's the Climate Minister?
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, Listen live to
news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.