Focus on gross emissions puts Commission plan on wrong track
An unnecessary focus on gross rather than net emissions has put the Climate Change Commission on the wrong track, according to Energy Resources Aotearoa鈥檚 submission on the Commission鈥檚 draft advice.
鈥淥ur sector fully supports the transition to lower emissions and the challenge now is to find the best way to do this,鈥� says Energy Resources鈥� chief executive John Carnegie.
鈥淔ocusing on gross emissions means we are asking New Zealanders to pay more than they should to achieve our net-zero goal.
鈥淭his approach leads to a fuel and technology-focus rather than on emissions, which leads to bans and other costly but ultimately unnecessary measures.
鈥淭he ETS is clearly the best tool for lowering net emissions. It allows people and businesses to make their own decisions on the best way to lower emissions, it encourages innovation and doesn鈥檛 try to second guess which technologies will succeed or fail.
鈥淭he Commission鈥檚 own modelling shows that modestly increasing the ETS unit price to $50 would result in Aotearoa meeting the net-zero target by 2050, with planting trees an important though temporary part of this.
鈥淲ith a cap on total emissions, we really don鈥檛 need any additional measures like a ban on new gas connections. Bans undermine future technologies which could use existing infrastructure, like hydrogen, bio-gases or even LNG if this is required to provide energy security.
鈥淭his is why we need to keep our options open rather than close them off with bans.
鈥淭here are some areas where it will be very difficult to decarbonise, such as air travel, certain process heat applications, and electricity firming. In these cases it is better to offset these emissions until new technologies are ready.
鈥淭he net result for the climate is the same while keeping jobs and investment in Aotearoa.
鈥淭he Commission rightly recognises we will need natural gas until at least 2050 to support renewable electricity sources, but if we undermine the local market then we could end up importing LNG from Australia instead.鈥�
天美直播also proposes an industry accord with the Government, which could be a joint commitment to work together on lowering emissions and ensuring a sustainable and prosperous energy resources sector.
The full submission is available at /dmsdocument/171. 聽