Glasgow is critical, and I
think everyone has recognised this juncture that we're at.
You know, this is the moment where you know it will be make or break
for those ambitions that we've set around 1.5 degrees and we know what
falling short of 1.5 degrees means
for the rest of the world, for ourselves, for our region.
Regardless of who is in power in the future.
There are now accountabilities that will be set through Parliament.
That means that you won't see
New Zealand easily able to walk away from what we must do.
There will be there will be an international bill, regardless
of whether or not we're able to reduce emissions substantially domestically.
Treasury modeling had put the cost
at around 900 million to $1.5 billion a year over the next decade.
How does the government get the money?
Will it come from general taxation or will there be specific levies to ensure
that polluters pay proportionately?
So it is hard to know whether or not that much will be required.
However, we of course, of course, we have to make sure
that we have an understanding of what might be so that we can factor
that into our domestic investment in terms of how that is paid for.
Well, of course,
you know,
we've got several years before necessarily we're going to need to be footing
that bill.
But work is being done now to make sure we invest in those markets
that we're doing it in such a way that it doesn't lead to double counting.
That materially makes a difference
for those countries where we're working alongside them
and with a particular focus on the Pacific.
Are you opposed to the principle of polluters having some targeted mechanism
whereby they contribute to the cost that's being borne by taxpayers?
Well, of course, you can already see within the architecture of
our climate
architecture in New Zealand that those basic principles apply.
You know, the emissions trading scheme where it's only in recent times
that you really have a price points within the cost of carbon
that's really starting to drive behavior change and that will contribute
to a reduction overall in our emissions in the longer term.
The same time, you can see that we are embedding that within
even the way that we're working with our agricultural sector
to incentivise behavior change, we are one of
we are in fact the only country in the world that's made a commitment
to price and reduce agricultural emissions.
So you can see that we do take that principle and that philosophy.
But it's it's for me, it's not just about this idea of polluter pay,
but polluter incentivise to change because that's the ultimate goal.
You don't want a situation where every country around the world is simply
purchasing or contributing to that reduction through offshore.
You want to see that domestic reduction because that has to be the goal of climate
action is to see a reduction, not just a payment.
Can you tell New Zealanders what life will look like for them in 2030?
So many of the things that are actually contributing to our emissions
profile at the moment are things that day to day level.
New Zealanders may not notice as much, but switching the way that we are
producing goods in New Zealand, manufacturing goods in New Zealand
will make a significant difference.
So you're fairly hopeful that in those areas of life,
those carbon intensive areas of daily life flying, driving and farming,
New Zealanders might not notice a huge difference.
Let's talk about transport
because we know that is a big contributor to New Zealand's emissions profile.
And one of the challenges that we have is, of course,
for most countries, switching up to public transport
is something that is already well ingrained in many large city centres.
New Zealand, of course, not everywhere
is public transport going to make that difference, but
where it can, we've invested an extra 40% into our public transport network.
But we know that we are a country that is dominated by private vehicle use.
That's where the clean car standard and those EV incentives are just so important.
You know, even there, you can see the significant difference
that those alone are estimated to make.
So for Kiwis in ten years time, my hope is that
they will see more affordable EVs, that they'll see a second hand market for
those low emissions vehicles that make it more affordable
and that they have more public transport options.
When you banned
offshore oil and gas exploration you mentioned that there would be
a three year review of onshore oil and gas exploration.
Is that review happening?
And if so, are you open to banning onshore exploration as well?
No decisions have been taken there.
I mean, it was a substantial decision to take away offshore.
And of course, now our focus is that just transition around onshore.
And so that's the next process for us
and just transition
is at the centre of the work that we're doing,
whether it's coal production in New Zealand,
but also the future of oil and gas in New Zealand,
we know we have to move away from fossil fuels.
And you know, if that review is happening.
Well, that's a commitment that we've made.
We, of course, have had block offers in between time,
but we know that this is a transition that must be made.
You've had a lot of feedback
about the 100% renewable electricity generation policy about the cost of it.
Are you still absolutely committed to phasing out fossil fuel electricity
by 2030?
We do believe that's an ambition we should drive towards.
You can see in New Zealand in recent times, we've had that increase in fossil
fuel use for electricity generation precisely because not enough investment
has been made to try and bridge that gap
between our 80 plus per cent renewable electricity generation
and how to deal with those dry years for our hydrological production.
So that is why we have created incentives now for ourselves because of that goal
to try and create a renewable battery option,
and we are working very hard towards that.