Greenpeace is welcoming the Labour Party’s commitment to offer households a $4,000 rebate on solar and battery installation, alongside more support for community energy schemes. Greenpeace had previously criticised the Labour Government’s partnership with BlackRock for relying too heavily on overseas asset managers to drive the energy transition, calling instead for more focus on household and community-owned renewables.

Labour’s solar policy announced today would offer a $2,000 rebate on household solar panel installations and an additional $2,000 for installing batteries. The policy would also set aside $20 million over four years for community energy schemes so that distributed renewable energy can be extended to those who are renting or otherwise cannot install solar at home. Labour has also pledged to install solar panels on 1,000 Kāinga Ora homes each year.

"Greenpeace has for years been calling on political leaders to commit to solarising New Zealand as a way to replace climate-polluting fossil fuels and give regular people more control over their energy," says Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Amanda Larsson.

Over 30,000 people have signed a Greenpeace petition calling for Government investment in household solar.

"We are pleased to see Labour come through with a commitment to boost household and community energy. It’s common sense and something that many New Zealanders want. To date, New Zealand has really lagged behind our peers when it comes to helping households make their own clean power from the sun.

"What we’ve seen in countries that have done renewable energy rollouts well is that local ownership is essential for generating buy-in to new renewables and ensuring that local people and communities benefit. That kind of public buy-in speeds up the roll-out of renewables."

Larsson also says that, when it comes to climate change, it’s important to remember that it’s not all about renewables.

"After introducing the globally significant ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, this Labour Government has done very little to address climate pollution, so it's good to see Labour commit to a new policy like this. But we need to see much more.

"Here in New Zealand, we have too many cars and too many cows. Intensive dairy is New Zealand’s most polluting sector, closely followed by road transport. Any political party that is serious about climate change also needs to come to the table with ambitious policies to regulate big dairy and divert road spending towards more rail, public transport, walking and cycling.

"Alongside this household solar pledge, we would expect to see an unwavering commitment to regulate the drivers of intensive dairying - like a ban on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser - and to ensure the next Government prioritses clean transport options over more roads," says Larsson.

These are some of the key policies outlined in Climate Shift, a ten-point plan for climate action that was launched by more than forty organisations in June, including Greenpeace. Already over 15,000 people have signed on.

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