Global warming means political heat
21 May 2000
MEDIA
RELEASE
Immediate
Global warming means political
heat
(652 words)
Within three years, GST could be
partly replaced by a carbon tax to help reduce New Zealand’s
greenhouse gas emissions, according to those who make and
operate wind turbines.
“Even sooner, there are likely to
be energy efficiency regulations for new buildings.
Subsidies may also be introduced for household insulation
and solar hot water heaters,” Paul van Lieshout, chairperson
of the NZ Wind Energy Association says.
“There may even
be a ban on the construction of new gas or coal-fired power
stations.”
A fortnight ago, Prime Minister Helen Clark
announced that the government would ratify the Kyoto Climate
Change Protocol in mid-2002. This means New Zealand needs to
start reducing emissions of greenhouse gases so they reach
1990 levels by 2012 –- the target under the
protocol.
Since 1990, New Zealand’s carbon dioxide output
has grown by 30 per cent. While this has been partly offset
by a big drop in numbers of methane-belching sheep, overall
emissions are continuing to grow.
The carbon dioxide
comes from transport (45 per cent), electricity generation
(18 per cent), residential (1%) and industry and commerce
(36 per cent). Of New Zealand’s electricity, 77 per cent of
it is generated from renewable sources, like hydro dams and
23 per cent from coal and gas.
“Some tough decisions will
have to be made. But we must start now,” van Lieshout
says.
“Already, in Australia, energy companies have to
generate more of their electricity each year from renewable
sources like wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass.
“Electricity users in the backblocks are being
subsidised to convert from diesel to renewables. City
households who install photo-voltaic systems are eligible
for cash rebates.”
He says achieving the target in the
energy sector will be easier than for many countries. New
Zealand has excellent renewable energy sources.
But van
Lieshout predicts the process will be politically fraught.
Not just at a party political level, but between sector
groups and between governments.
“For instance, the Kyoto
protocol allows countries to trade in carbon credits. They
can also offset the output of carbon dioxide by creating
‘carbon sinks’, such as planting new forests, which lock up
carbon.”
Van Lieshout says this may sound straight
forward, and it may help New Zealand. But he points out that
governments are already arguing about the definition of a
forest, so relying on this solution is very risky.
Here
in New Zealand he says there is likely to be conflict
between those industries, like farming, which have cut their
greenhouse gas outputs and those which have had an increase.
Farmers are likely to ask to be ‘ring-fenced’, and for
instance, excluded from a carbon tax on diesel, on the basis
that they’ve already done their bit.
“A carbon tax
would be the biggest hot potato of them all,” van Lieshout
believes.
“Government would probably make it fiscally
neutral, so it is not seen as just another tax. This means
consumers would pay less for nearly everything except
energy. And Treasury says it would be easy to devise and
cheap to collect.
“But that doesn’t take into account
our national love affair with the motor vehicle.”
One
thing is certain, he says. If the process is left to the
free market, the Kyoto targets won’t be achieved. Other
countries have realised this, and moved to provide extra
help.
“The Ministry of Commerce predicts that by 2020, in
the absence of any policy changes, 35 per cent of our
electricity would be generated from fossil fuels –- gas and
coal –- up from 23 per cent today.”
Wind turbines are
the fastest growing energy technology in the world. New
factories and new jobs are being created in Australia and
elsewhere. The cost of wind power is dropping rapidly, van
Lieshout says.
"However, so long as fossil fuel
generators are not required to pay their share of the costs
of global warming, New Zealand will miss out on these
exciting developments.”
[ends]
For more information,
please contact
Paul van Lieshout, Tel 04 495 8505 or
Mobile 021 519 085
Or
Ian Shearer, manager, NZ Wind
Energy Association
Tel 025 306
004