Simon Watts: Climate Change Minister defends emissions reduction plan which is no longer on track to meet third target

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Climate Change Minister is defending his emissions reduction plan after revealing it's no longer on track to meet its third emissions budget.

This is despite being on track under the policies of the last government.

Projections published at the end of 2023 based on policies from the last Government, showed the country hitting its first three emissions budgets. Under new projections published today, which incorporate decisions the new Government has made to bin a host of Labour-era policies like decarbonising heavy industry and subsidies for EVs, the government will sail 17 Mt CO2-e above that third budget, which runs from 2031–35.

The government is on track to meet its current budget, emissions budget 1, and the second emissions budget.

An emissions reduction plan is a document the Government releases under the Zero Carbon Act. It is meant to set out policies that will help the Government to meet its emissions budgets on the way to hit the Government’s ultimate goal of net zero emissions for long-lived gasses in 2050. The Government has one more emissions budget to deploy to hit its third budget.

The Government released its draft plan today for consultation. A final plan will be published before the end of the year.

The new reduction plan includes investing in electric car chargers, waste minimisation, and planting thousands of hectares of pine and native trees.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts told Mike Hosking this plan has a short-term focus.

He says the initiatives will support the struggling economy while also still hitting the first two targets.

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