A previously secret report by the Infrastructure Commission has found that our broken resource consent system will put at risk New Zealand’s net zero carbon goals, National’s Infrastructure spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

The Infrastructure Commission have today issued their report on ‘Infrastructure Consenting for Climate Targets.

“This report should be a giant wake-up call for Labour on their failing RMA reforms,” says Mr Bishop.

“The report finds that a broken consenting regime will derail New Zealand’s pathway to Net Zero and will open up an emissions liability of up to $16 billion, because ‘consenting a project, particularly a complex infrastructure project, is becoming more costly, takes longer to complete and requires more resource.”

“This means taxpayers will have to fork out billions because of our broken consenting regime.

“Rather than fix this massive problem, Labour’s RMA 2.0 makes things worse.

“Contact Energy says the new bills are the “single biggest threat” to new renewables and decarbonisation.

“The Wind Energy Association has said Labour’s replacement will only make consenting wind farms harder, and the Electricity Sector Environment Group have described the new laws as ‘unworkable’.

“Labour has decided to double-down on the RMA and after five years of work has managed to produce new laws that will make things worse, not better.

“Labour’s track record on climate change is proven failure. They are importing three times as much coal as National did. Instead of making renewables investment easier, Labour is tying the sector down in red tape.

“National is committed to reaching Net Zero by 2050. National will deliver meaningful consenting reform that delivers the renewables investment New Zealand needs to achieve those ambitious climate goals.”

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