Bans are not the way to transition
Efforts to phase out coal and natural gas announced by the Government today are a blow to New Zealand鈥檚 energy security and well-being, according to 天美直播
鈥淩ight now we are seeing major industries cutting back production because of high energy prices, due in part to a temporary tight supply of natural gas,鈥� says chief executive John Carnegie.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement will only make that worse and undermine investment confidence. Without investment into ensuring supply, energy costs will rise even higher and threaten jobs.
鈥淭he Climate Change Commission is clear that we鈥檒l need natural gas until at least 2050 to support renewable electricity and keep prices down. However, there is a risk that if we undermine the local industry we鈥檒l end up reliant on imported coal or LNG instead.
鈥淭here is no need for heavy-handed interventions when we already have an ETS with a cap on total emissions.
鈥淭his means that additional policies like bans or subsidies are effectively useless because of the 鈥榳aterbed effect鈥�. Pushing down on one area means emissions will just pop up and be slightly higher in another area.
鈥淭his is why the focus needs to be on reducing emissions through the ETS rather than getting rid of specific fuel types.
鈥淚t also undermines the relevance of the Climate Change Commission who have only just received submissions on their draft proposals on the same issue, and MBIE has separately consulted on this topic.
鈥淲e鈥檇 like to work with the Government on an Energy Accord. As proposed in our submission to the Climate Change Commission, this could be a joint commitment to work together on lowering emissions and ensuring a sustainable and prosperous energy resources sector.鈥�