A lot of acronyms, a little less action
The emissions reduction plan was released yesterday. An historic day for many who’ve worked to get climate change on the main agenda, but does it go far enough?
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, May 17, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Cycling NZ report released; more needed for kids in poverty; working population shrinks; but first, the emissions reduction plan and reactions to it.
James Shaw and Grant Robertson fronted the ERP announcement (Image: Tina Tiller)
What happened yesterday?
The 348-page emissions reduction plan (ERP – get used to that one) was released. The headline? A $2.9b funding allocation from the $4.5b climate emergency response fund (CERF), paid for by the proceeds of selling carbon credits via the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) over the next four years. So the ETS funds the CERF which is funding the ERP (sorry). Quick recap: The ERP is the plan to make sure we don’t exceed emissions beyond the new carbon budgets set last week. The Zero Carbon Act (2019) committed us to reducing emissions to “net zero” (except biogenic methane) by 2050. That’s in pursuit of preventing warming of the planet by more than 1.5C based on the 2019 Paris Agreement. Handy chart here on what scientists say happens at 1.5C and 2C. James Shaw and Grant Robertson spoke to the plan at the post-cabinet press conference.
What’s in the ERP?
Eloise Gibson from Stuff has a very readable “what’s in, what’s out” here. RNZ have broken down the dollar figures and targets here. Transport is the key focus with a $1.3b allocation, including $569m towards a subsidised car scrapping scheme for low-to-middle income earners. That’s across four years. Only $32m is earmarked over the next two years for a trial. Am sure the Spinoff team weren’t the only ones doing back of the envelope calculations to see how that might actually work but there wasn’t a lot of detail in the plan. There is $710m for agricultural innovation and transition (despite the sector not contributing to the ETS which funds the plan) and $1b over seven years to help the energy sector decarbonise. Some of that is coming from other funds though.
What’s not?
Carrots and sticks were popular yesterday. Newsroom’s Marc Daalder went with it as a headline in his detailed analysis calling it for the carrots, weighted towards incentives rather than disincentives. Many of the climate commission’s recommendations were missing. There was no confirmed congestion charging, no ban on new fossil gas connections to homes and no ban on the import of fossil fuel vehicles by 2035. Continuing the public transport discount didn’t make it either but perhaps it will be in the budget on Thursday. Stuff have analysed the 284 listed actions in the plan and found half are what Henry Cooke calls “plans to make plans”.
Reactions
On the whole, the consensus seems to be that the very existence of a plan is historic and significant. Judgements on the actual actions outlined however are very mixed. Federated Farmers and Business NZ seem happy about it which optimistically suggests there is broad acceptance of the need for action on climate change. Pessimistically it suggests that the plan hasn’t gone far enough. Greenpeace renamed the plan the “Ridiculous Omissions Plan”, calling out its failure to address agricultural emissions. Thomas Coughlan (paywalled at The Herald) had a succinct summary that also managed to be existential. “This plan tries to strip emissions from our current way of life, ignoring difficult questions over whether we need to change our current way of life to reduce emissions.” Bernard Hickey called it “tame, tentative and too thin”.
The Spinoff wouldn’t exist today without the generous support of our members.
If you want to support what we do, please consider joining up. There is no minimum to donate and you’ll not only help make local journalism happen but gain a bunch of great member-only perks, including a world version of The Bulletin, written by Peter Bale, delivered direct to your inbox every Thursday, less advertising, an RSS feed, cool merch and more. Join today!
Cycling NZ inquiry report released
The inquiry, initiated after the death of cyclist Olivia Podmore, has found that New Zealand’s high performance sports system needs a complete rethink to address the “chilling” power imbalance between athletes and sports organisations. A press conference was fronted by the report’s authors Mike Heron QC and senior academic Sarah Leberman, High Performance Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle, and Cycling NZ board chairperson Phil Holden. Castle and Holden apologised for the “unresolved trauma” experienced by top cyclists including Podmore.
Poverty reduction targets fail to account for pandemic or cost of living crisis
Kate Prickett, Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the study of families and children, says “urgent and bold” budget decisions will be needed “if we are to get serious about the cost of living crisis and what it means for families and children living in or on the edge of poverty”. Prickett says declines in child poverty have slowed in the past year on multiple indicators and one measure, the proportion of children living in households with less than 50% of the median disposable household income, has risen. The Salvation Army has called on the government to urgently increase housing support payments in Thursday's budget.
If you were suddenly unable to work, how long could you keep up your lifestyle? What about if you passed away; would your family be financially taken care of? AIA is on a mission to make insurance easier for everyone, and make steps to decrease New Zealand’s multi-billion-dollar protection gap. AIA Chief Customer Officer Sharon Botica shared her thoughts about the protection gap, why it’s a cause for concern, and how we can start to combat it by giving people better access to affordable, informed insurance options. Learn more about AIA’s insurance starter packs, and how you can insure your future here. (Sponsored)
“Brain drain” underway
Stats NZ released their latest population figures yesterday for the year ending March 31 2022. The population has increased to 5,127,100 despite more people leaving than arriving. The figures do point to the beginnings of the heralded “brain drain” - that is young people leaving to go overseas to live and work. A fairly natural thing to expect after two years of closed borders but it may present challenges in the current climate. The working age population shrank 0.2% with a 3.1% reduction in the number of people in their 20s. The number of people aged 25 to 29 dropped by 4%.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz
Dylan Cleaver digests the damning report on Cycling New Zealand and high performance sport in this country in general; Duncan Greive talks to Able's Wendy Youens about the battle to make New Zealand TV accessible to all; Sam Brooks recaps the latest elimination on Dancing With the Stars NZ; Alex Casey admires a gravel maggot named Smeagol.
Editor's note: In keeping with my ongoing quest to celebrate critters that might be considered unlovable (parasitic worms, for example), I endorse Alex’s call to have Smeagol named as an official mascot. Of something. Anything. We’re taking suggestions.
