29 August 2024

Greenpeace Aotearoa is denouncing Ballance Agri-nutrients’ call for more fossil gas production, maintaining that urea needs to be phased out altogether.

Greenpeace spokesperson Amanda Larsson says, "Urea drives climate change and freshwater pollution, no matter how it’s made, and should be phased out.

"Calling for more fossil gas extraction in the middle of a climate crisis is obviously ludicrous. But what might be less obvious is that urea produced from green hydrogen still causes climate and water pollution. Ultimately Ballance needs to cease urea production altogether."

Elevated nitrate levels in drinking water, caused primarily by fertilisers like urea and dairy cows raised on pastures grown using the synthetic nitrogen, have been linked to increased risk of colorectal cancers and preterm births.

The use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser in Aotearoa is directly responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire domestic aviation sector. Indirectly, synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is a key enabler of intensive dairying, which is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Aotearoa.

"Since production of urea at Kapuni began, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers has increased nearly sevenfold in New Zealand, primarily to supply the intensive dairy sector which has seen cow numbers increase by 82% between 1990 and 2019," says Larsson.

"The consequences for New Zealand’s rivers are plain to see with algal blooms making popular swimming sites unsafe and increased contamination of source water. For the sake of people’s health, a stable climate and healthy freshwater ecosystems, Ballance needs to phase out the production of urea."

Greenpeace, together with several hapū of Ngāruahine, opposed the hydrogen-urea plant in the courts. While supportive of green hydrogen use for transport fuel, the environmental organisation opposed its use for urea production. The hapū, in turn, opposed the turbine location, calling upon Hiringa to site the four proposed wind turbines that would power the hydrogen electrolyser at a location closer to the coast. This is because Hiringa’s proposed site would have made the windmills dominant in a highly valued cultural landscape, blocking views of Taranaki Maunga and impacting hapū relationships with an ancestral mountain.

"Hiringa and Ballance could have satisfied the concerns of environmental organisations and hapū by siting the turbines at a culturally appropriate location and committing to use the hydrogen for transport fuel instead of polluting urea," says Larsson.

"We need heaps more renewables to transition away from fossil fuels that are driving climate devastation. However, clean energy projects must also be genuinely used for the purpose of displacing pollution, rather than for creating chemicals that are themselves a key driver of ongoing freshwater and climate pollution, as is the case with urea."

Larsson says today’s decision from Ballance is clearly in response to a shift in Government policy under the new Luxon administration.

"By removing environmental protections, promoting fossil fuels and intensive dairy farming, Luxon’s government of climate extremists are opting for a future where New Zealand’s costly climate emissions continue to rise, and we pour more fuel on the fire of climate disasters that are already threatening communities around the world."

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