Efforts to phase out coal and natural gas announced by
the Government today are a blow to New Zealand’s energy
security and well-being, according to Energy Resources
Aotearoa.
“Right 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,” says
chief executive John Carnegie.
“Today’s announcement
will only make that worse and undermine investment
confidence. Without investment into ensuring supply, energy
costs will rise even higher and threaten jobs.
“The
Climate Change Commission is clear that we’ll 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’ll end up reliant on
imported coal or LNG instead.
“There is no need for
heavy-handed interventions when we already have an ETS with
a cap on total emissions.
“This means that additional
policies like bans or subsidies are effectively useless
because of the ‘waterbed effect’. Pushing down on one
area means emissions will just pop up and be slightly higher
in another area.
“This is why the focus needs to be on
reducing emissions through the ETS rather than getting rid
of specific fuel types.
“It 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.
“We’d 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.”
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