December 10, 2024 • 4 mins
The Climate Change Minister says their latest plan could get us to our net zero 2050 target six years early.
The Government's released its second Emissions Reduction Plan.
Key policies include planting trees on Crown-owned land and introducing both a network of 10,000 EV charging points and agricultural emissions pricing by 2030.
Simon Watts told Heather du Plessis-Allan this gives us a path to hit the goal as early as 2044.
He says we need a plan that's practical and achievable, and they've been very conservative in some of their estimates.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the government's unveiled the country's second emissions reduction plan.
This covers the period from twenty twenty six to twenty
thirty and this is apparently so ambitious. We're going to
meet our net zero twenty fifty target by twenty forty four.
The Climate Change Minister at Simon, what's morning, Simon?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Very good morning, Simon.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
What's the magic trick here? What's the thing that you're
doing to get it down so quickly?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, we're actually working with industry and business and we're
not just morsing and trying to write a tech from government.
We've got a number of initiatives across key sectors agriculture,
transport and also energy and at the end of the day,
those initiatives are going to allow us to hit our targets.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
There is a little bit of reliance here on things
like methane busting technology which hasn't been proven yet. Are
we being a little hopeful.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
No, We've been working with the industry, We're working closely
with the players that are involved. We've taken a conservative
position around that, but you know, we need a plan
that's practical and achievable and we're not into pie in
the sky. We've been very concerned around some of our estimates,
and we are confident the numbers we've got in there
are going to be the ones that are able to
be delivered.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
What have you been conservative around, Well, well, we can take.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
A good look at the risks around the different products
and the outcomes that they're going to achieve, and we
know that there's a lot of unknowns in that space
and we've taken a midpoints around some of those estimates.
Our conversations with a number of these products, including some
most or a lot of them that are made and
being produced in New Zealand is that you know they
(01:31):
are coming and are coming pretty soon and that's going
to have a big impact for us.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
But also importantly how economy have we brought down the cost?
How much we're going to pay other countries to plant
trees for us.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What we've done is we've introduced and we've made announcement
last week Minnis maclay and I around looking at a
forestation on crown land. We've got a lot of crown
land that is not being utilized at the moment and
we see an opportunity there for us to work with
a private sector to do that. We've also put some
caps in regards to forestry on productive farmland, which we
(02:04):
said we'd do at the election, and a combination of
those policies is going to help us achieve our targets.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right, So instead of paying others to plant our trees,
we plant our trees on crownland ourselves.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, all we've said is we want to work with
a private sector to utilize unutilized crown land to plant trees.
And some of that benefit will benefit our climate targets,
but also more importantly, it'll benefit our economy through more
forestry products and more forestry except so, have you got.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
An update because the last update on how much it
was going to cost us to pay the other countries
to plant the trees for us was twenty four bill
by twenty thirty. What's it now?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So the number in the plan is that number is
down to around eighty four a million ton gap. It
was one hundred and one million when we did the
draft plan. It's still significant gap and the focus has
been by this government this plan is on our domestic
targets and what we can do in that regard. Obviously
we're going to put thought to the international target. But
(03:01):
my objective from the Prime ministers to make sure that
we're on track for what's in New Zealand law, and
the plan that we've released the day will achieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Simon Not my maths isn't awesome, But that sounded to
me like it's about eighty percent. The gap is about
eighty percent of what it was and eighty percent of
twenty four billion would roughly about twenty billion. So we're
still facing a bill of about twenty billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yet no, no, we're not going to face a bill
of that scale. There is a significant number of options
that we are going to have to consider around how
we do that the price in order to achieve that
in the way in which we achieve that, there is
a variety of options. But look, the government tends to
meet its target. Yeah, this plans focused on our domestic stuff,
(03:45):
which is in our domestic law and we're on track for.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So if the bill is not twenty four billion or
twenty billion, what is it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We don't know the exact number because the reality is
there's still more work to be done in that space.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that did they not give you a little like
a little range of what it may possibly be.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But they didn't. They provide the gap in terms of
our target and what we're tracking, and that number has
been updated, but the fiscal aspect is a significant step
beyond that because there are so many unknowns.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Brilliant stuff, Simon, thanks for talking us, Sir at Simon,
Watt's climate change minister. Can't wait to see what that
bill is going to be.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
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.
So the government's unveiled the country's second emissions reduction plan.
This covers the period from twenty twenty six to twenty
thirty and this is apparently so ambitious. We're going to
meet our net zero twenty fifty target by twenty forty four.
The Climate Change Minister at Simon, what's morning, Simon?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Very good morning, Simon.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
What's the magic trick here? What's the thing that you're
doing to get it down so quickly?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, we're actually working with industry and business and we're
not just morsing and trying to write a tech from government.
We've got a number of initiatives across key sectors agriculture,
transport and also energy and at the end of the day,
those initiatives are going to allow us to hit our targets.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
There is a little bit of reliance here on things
like methane busting technology which hasn't been proven yet. Are
we being a little hopeful.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
No, We've been working with the industry, We're working closely
with the players that are involved. We've taken a conservative
position around that, but you know, we need a plan
that's practical and achievable and we're not into pie in
the sky. We've been very concerned around some of our estimates,
and we are confident the numbers we've got in there
are going to be the ones that are able to
be delivered.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
What have you been conservative around, Well, well, we can take.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
A good look at the risks around the different products
and the outcomes that they're going to achieve, and we
know that there's a lot of unknowns in that space
and we've taken a midpoints around some of those estimates.
Our conversations with a number of these products, including some
most or a lot of them that are made and
being produced in New Zealand is that you know they
(01:31):
are coming and are coming pretty soon and that's going
to have a big impact for us.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
But also importantly how economy have we brought down the cost?
How much we're going to pay other countries to plant
trees for us.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What we've done is we've introduced and we've made announcement
last week Minnis maclay and I around looking at a
forestation on crown land. We've got a lot of crown
land that is not being utilized at the moment and
we see an opportunity there for us to work with
a private sector to do that. We've also put some
caps in regards to forestry on productive farmland, which we
(02:04):
said we'd do at the election, and a combination of
those policies is going to help us achieve our targets.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right, So instead of paying others to plant our trees,
we plant our trees on crownland ourselves.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, all we've said is we want to work with
a private sector to utilize unutilized crown land to plant trees.
And some of that benefit will benefit our climate targets,
but also more importantly, it'll benefit our economy through more
forestry products and more forestry except so, have you got.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
An update because the last update on how much it
was going to cost us to pay the other countries
to plant the trees for us was twenty four bill
by twenty thirty. What's it now?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So the number in the plan is that number is
down to around eighty four a million ton gap. It
was one hundred and one million when we did the
draft plan. It's still significant gap and the focus has
been by this government this plan is on our domestic
targets and what we can do in that regard. Obviously
we're going to put thought to the international target. But
(03:01):
my objective from the Prime ministers to make sure that
we're on track for what's in New Zealand law, and
the plan that we've released the day will achieve that.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Simon Not my maths isn't awesome, But that sounded to
me like it's about eighty percent. The gap is about
eighty percent of what it was and eighty percent of
twenty four billion would roughly about twenty billion. So we're
still facing a bill of about twenty billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yet no, no, we're not going to face a bill
of that scale. There is a significant number of options
that we are going to have to consider around how
we do that the price in order to achieve that
in the way in which we achieve that, there is
a variety of options. But look, the government tends to
meet its target. Yeah, this plans focused on our domestic stuff,
(03:45):
which is in our domestic law and we're on track for.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So if the bill is not twenty four billion or
twenty billion, what is it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
We don't know the exact number because the reality is
there's still more work to be done in that space.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that did they not give you a little like
a little range of what it may possibly be.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But they didn't. They provide the gap in terms of
our target and what we're tracking, and that number has
been updated, but the fiscal aspect is a significant step
beyond that because there are so many unknowns.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Brilliant stuff, Simon, thanks for talking us, Sir at Simon,
Watt's climate change minister. Can't wait to see what that
bill is going to be.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
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.
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