The government has announced a new climate change target that aims to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2020 .
It will also review the existing Emissions Trade Scheme as part of its policy mix to meet the new targets.
In 2013 New Zealand produced around 400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per unit of GDP, of which 48.4% came from agriculture and 21.9% from transport.
New Zealand’s longer term emissions target is to reduce emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Climate change issues minister Tim Groser says the new target was a significant increase on its current target of 5% below 1990 emission levels by 2020.
“It was equivalent to a reduction of 11% below our 1990 emissions levels by 2030 and is similar to the approach of other significant players including the United States and Canada,” says Groser.
The target will be economy wide including agriculture and forestry and covers all greenhouse gases.
The intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and remains provisional pending confirmation of the approaches to be taken in accounting for the land sector and confirmation of access to carbon markets.
All countries are expected to table targets as part of work towards a new climate change agreement which is due to be concluded at the COP21 meeting in Paris in December.
“Already 80% of New Zealand’s electricity is renewable and around half our emissions come from food production for which there aren’t yet cost-effective technologies to reduce them,” says Groser.
“That means there are fewer opportunities for New Zealand to reduce its emissions right now,” he says.
However, he’s optimistic about the future as the investment in agricultural research begins to bear fruit and the cost of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles continues to fall.
“In five to ten years we’ll be in a good position to reduce our emissions in both agriculture and transport,” says Groser.
The government has committed $45 million to the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases out to June 2019 and a further $48.5 million through the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse gas research centre for research into technology to reduce agriculture greenhouse gas emissions.
