“The Government has ditched the emissions reduction plan adopted by the last government, but this could leave New Zealand flying blind without any emissions reduction plan until 2026”, says Jessica Palairet, Executive Director at Lawyers for Climate Action NZ.

“The Climate Change Response Act 2002 requires New Zealand to have emissions reduction plans for each emissions budget period. Those plans lay out the policies and strategies the Government will follow to meet each emissions budget, which are stepping stones to meeting New Zealand’s 2050 climate targets.”

“In its Q3 Action Plan released today, the Government has signalled its intent to release its draft second emissions reduction plan. But that will only cover the next emissions budget period from 2026-2030.”

“The problem is that the Government continues to ignore the first emissions reduction plan, which the Climate Change Response Act says covers New Zealand until the end of 2025.”

“It’s open to the Government to amend the emissions reduction plan. But it has to consult on any changes which are more than “minor and technical” and it hasn’t done that. In the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, it has simply chosen to ignore the current plan, and forge ahead with its road-heavy transport investments”.

“Even though we have an emissions reduction plan until 2025 on paper, it’s not actually operative or being followed. This means we are facing almost 18 more months with no plan for reducing emissions, despite this being required under the Climate Change Response Act 2002”, says Palairet.

The Government’s Transport Plan: No Alignment with the Emissions Reduction Plan

This issue has been brought to the fore by the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS), released on Thursday last week, 27 June 2024.

“The GPS is important as it sets out how the Government will invest in land transport for the next ten years.”

“The GPS takes a sharply different approach from that set out in the first emissions reduction plan, which set a target of reducing transport emissions 41% by 2035.”

“While the GPS does provide some funding for public transport projects, it doesn’t include climate change or reducing transport emissions as a strategic priority. The word ‘climate’ only appears once in the GPS - and that’s to say that the Government will rely on the ETS as its “key tool to reduce emissions”, placing less reliance on transport policies.”

“The GPS explicitly disregards the first emissions reduction plan on the basis that it will start engagement on the second emissions reduction plan later this year”.

“But the second emissions reduction plan doesn’t exist yet, and likely won’t cover the period of the first emissions budget. This means that New Zealand has no operative emissions reduction plan, and likely won’t have one until the second emissions reduction plan comes into effect in 2026”.

“We strongly encourage the Government to revisit the GPS in light of the first emissions reduction plan. If it wants to change the approach, then it has to follow the right process - not just ignore the requirements laid out under the Climate Change Response Act”.

Today, Lawyers for Climate Action NZ wrote to the Government outlining its concerns. It also wrote to the Minister of Transport and Minister for Climate Change leading up to the release of the Final GPS outlining its concerns, following our submission on the Draft GPS.

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