Submission on New Zealand’s second Emissions Reduction Plan

Submission on New Zealand’s second Emissions Reduction Plan

Unfortunately, the small reductions that have started and the hope for accelerating these are mostly stalled or reversed by a barrage of climate-hostile policy changes. The draft second Emissions Reduction Plan is inadequate to achieve the domestic 2050 emissions targets. We are already way off track to meet our third emissions budget, our 2050 net zero target, or our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and we can’t see how the 2026-2030 plan will turn the ship around. Our inaction will make things even worse. The government's net-based approach wastes the unprecedented opportunity for health gains and health sector savings by prioritising direct gross emissions cuts with health co-benefits. To a tired and stretched health sector workforce, this is indefensible. Furthermore, fully resourcing all Māori and iwi-led emissions reduction plans and priorities is long overdue. Aotearoa’s climate action must enable an equitable transition, grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Mātauranga Māori. 

OraTaiao's full submission to The Ministry for the Environment, prepared by Liz Springford, Scott Metcalfe, and Dermot Coffey, is available here.

Photo by Josh Barwick on Unsplash.

Recent responses