Labour pledged to remove diesel-burning heaters from schools and invest an extra $300 million in green business ideas, as part of its “climate manifesto” launched today.
A dedicated minister would help employees in high-polluting industries to switch to cleaner jobs, the party outlined.
But Labour also used the document to criticise National’s plans to cull a number of carbon-reducing schemes, such as the Clean Car Discount.
The Labour Party had already outlined the election promises most likely to cut Kiwis’ carbon footprints – such as a $4000 subsidy to install solar panels and $3000 to replace gas appliances with electrical options.
People would benefit from a rapid switch, Labour highlighted. “The faster we accelerate our transition away from fossil fuels to domestically generated renewable energy, the more secure our economy will be and the more insulated Kiwi families will be from significant price fluctuations when warming our homes and powering our car.”
Responding to the criticism, National MP Chris Bishop noted Labour “started the year scrapping a range of government climate change initiatives”.
Robert McLachlan – a Massey University professor and climate campaigner – said Labour had produced “a comprehensive, detailed climate plan”. While the country was on track to its 2025 target, he said, the next Government would need to do much more to meet the 2030 goal. Labour’s manifesto “will go a long way”, he said.
“Energy, financial, and climate security all hinge on getting out of fossil fuels.”
Alva Feldmeier, the executive director of 350 Aotearoa, backed efforts to get rid of the 103 diesel boilers in schools, an issue her advocacy group had campaigned on. But roughly 750 gas-burning heating systems remained in public-sector buildings, she said.
Feldmeier also praised Labour’s funding to help houses install solar panels and communities adopt micro-generation – which would make power cheaper, greener and more reliable as the weather became increasingly extreme.
However, the plan would do little to bring down agricultural emissions, she said – noting a phase-out of synthetic fertiliser would be more ambitious.
“Labour has a lot of good intentions… but intentions alone won’t bring the ambition that is needed.”
Action Station’s India Logan-Riley said the manifesto showed Labour’s thinking was moving in the right direction.
A minister to help employees to move into cleaner jobs was important, Logan-Riley said, but a truly just transition would support other vulnerable communities as well as workers. “An overemphasis on the economy will end up leaving people behind.”
Although Te Tiriti received “a couple of nods”, Logan-Riley was also concerned the manifesto did not give sufficient weight to Māori knowledge and voices.
“As Māori, we work at the coalface of those who are most vulnerable in the community. The leadership that we demonstrated looking after everyone, especially after the cyclone, has to be uplifted.”
Labour’s manifesto makes the case the party would do much more than the National Party to bring down New Zealand’s emissions.
A Labour-led Government would fast-track the consenting of renewable electricity projects and transmission lines – covering similar ground to National’s energy pledges.
The party would lay the groundwork for offshore wind by the end of next year, plus use its electricity contracts for schools, hospitals, universities and police stations to push for investment in new wind and solar farms.
Under Christopher Luxon, National planned to spend $257 million on 10,000 new EV chargers. Labour’s response was more muted: to double public EV chargers on the main highway and build up to 1000 points in rural communities.
Labour’s new Just Transitions Minister would produce a strategy to help employees into greener jobs, and establish a centre to train new and existing energy workers, the document said.
The party would invest in major new public transport systems in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Labour would put $70m into climate research – another new election promise. It would also restrict development in high-risk parts of the country, to limit the houses and infrastructure subject to flooding and fires.
David Unwin/Stuff
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said he would lead the work to write the next emissions-cutting plan.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the policy document was “not a complete list” of the actions a Labour-led Government would take. He promised to listen to advice from officials and the Climate Change Commission and lead the work when finalising an emissions reduction plan next year.
The manifesto also highlighted the big-hitting climate plans that would stay under Labour: the Clean Car Discount, the ‘GIDI’ Fund and the 2025 introduction of emissions pricing for farms.
The cash raised from farmers would be returned, Labour said, to incentivise the planting of trees on farms and roll out of emissions-cutting tools.
National’s intended repeal of the Clean Car Discount – which makes it cheaper to buy an electric car and more expensive to buy a petrol-guzzling large vehicle – would result in 3m extra tonnes of emissions, Labour estimated.
Aotearoa would be hard-pressed to meet its 2025 climate goal without the policy, the party said.
The country would put 5m tonnes of additional carbon into the atmosphere following the cancellation of the GIDI Fund, the document said. The fund, which provides businesses up to half of the extra cost of green technology, has been robustly criticised by National MPs.
EV and tech subsidies mean New Zealanders can pay a smaller carbon penalty on their petrol, gas and electricity, Labour said – arguing these charges would rise under National, because the party has outlined comparatively few policies.
McLachlan agreed. Increasing carbon penalties to meet national targets would be “too disruptive”, he said.
But recycling the penalty’s revenue into subsidies “is known to be more effective at transforming the economy than the simple price on carbon alone”.
