How to build a recovery that’s climate-friendly

It’s not often a government finds itself able to spend billions of extra dollars, but which projects will we be grateful for in the long term? Eloise Gibson reports.

The last time the government passed major climate legislation, it was promptly trampled by the global financial crisis.

In 2009, the Emissions Trading Scheme was diluted, after businesses pleaded with the Government to slash the cost of carbon. When business recovered, emissions rebounded higher than before.

A decade later, New Zealand has not yet turned its greenhouse gas emissions around.

But while the economic fallout from Covid-19 threatens to be worse than the 2008 crisis, this time, business, green and other groups have come forward with a long list of climatefriendly ways the Government could get the economy humming.

‘‘We should prioritise projects that support the transition to zero carbon,’’ says Mike Burrell, head of the Sustainable Business Council, which represents businesses with $77 billion turnover. ‘‘There’s never been a better time to do infrastructure. Borrowing is as cheap as it will ever be.

‘‘Let’s look through the half-dozen things on the pie chart of what contributes to [our] greenhouse gases and say, ‘How do we reduce each one?’ ’’

Boost renewables

Another proposal with broad support is boosting clean electricity generation, as well as improving the grid that carries electricity around.

Using electricity more efficiently in buildings could free up some generation capacity, but more generation will be needed if, for example, electric transport takes off.

Groups such as EDS and Greenpeace support boosting solar power in homes and offices, and replacing existing fossil fuel power plants with renewables.

Support for these ideas goes across the political spectrum. Burrell says renewable energy ‘‘would be a safe bet’’. National’s climate change spokesman, Scott Simpson, agrees: ‘‘A focus on renewables is good, and I like the suggestion to explore uptake of solar. I’d like to think every item of spending has an eye on what is good for the climate.’’

Set the standard

Given that New Zealanders will be paying down this debt for generations, it would be a tragedy if the projects we’re signing up for did not last. The Climate Commission has urged the Government to make sure any new infrastructure can withstand climate change, and will not, for example, be flooded by rising seas.

Eagles, of the Green Building Council, says all shovel-ready projects should have to prove they are lower carbon than normal, using green certification schemes already being employed by the industry. He says New Zealand will not be able to hit the zero carbon goal without tackling rising emissions from the building sector.

He wants to see a particularly high standard applied to public buildings – hospitals, prisons and schools. ‘‘One great benefit is that it will also create thousands more . . . greencollar jobs.’’

Clean, fast trains

The Government’s last infrastructure announcement – made before Covid19 broke out – was rather heavy on road spending. But mass transit is another area with broad support for a spending boost.

EDS, Forest & Bird and other green groups want the electrifying of trains to be a priority. The Greens have said they want $9b spent on fast electric passenger trains connecting provincial centres such as Whangarei, Palmerston North and Ashburton with their nearby cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Eventually, the trains would travel at up to 160kmh.

Storing our water

Part of being climateresilient will be preparing for the inevitable effects of climate change, as well as shrinking emissions.

Simpson and his National Party colleague, agriculture spokesman Todd Muller, want the Government to use this chance to build more water storage.

‘‘It’s a global competitive advantage – the oil of the 21st century . . . and we have it,’’ Muller says.

Done right, storing more water could supply the grid with hydro power, help farmers in dry areas grow food, and smooth out flows in rivers and streams that swing between floods and droughts.

However, other groups are wary of propping up farming expansion where water is already scarce.

Youth organisation Generation Zero warns the value proposition of some ‘‘shovel-ready’’ projects does not stack up, citing irrigation dams in places unsuitable for agriculture.

Boost burp research

New Zealand has spent tens of millions of dollars on research into new technology to cut farming emissions, such as feed additives, and a hoped-for vaccine to cut cows’ methane-laced burps.

An independent review last year recommended the Government boost that spending to improve the chances of a breakthrough. The Covid-19 recovery is a chance to do that, says Simpson. ‘‘If we are to . . . get our farmers to have a lower footprint other than just through destocking, we will have to have some tools. Now is a good time [to] spend a bit of money in that direction.’’

Forest & Bird, meanwhile, wants to see more funding to help farmers reduce their environmental impact, plus a new research and development arm at stateowned Pa¯mu (formerly Landcorp) that would develop and trial more sustainable agriculture.