The Government’s 59 policy changes that are destroying the country’s climate response

In this earlier post I listed 54 policy changes or decisions made by this Government that are cumulatively wrecking the country’s attempts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

I thought that I would make this an occasional post to list these changes and to remind readers about how bad this Government is on climate change.

In my post my brief summary of the Government’s wrecking of every emissions reduction police it can get its hands on includes these:

1. Cancelling the Big Battery Project.
2. Abolishing the Government Investment in the Decarbonising Industry Fund.
3. Cancelling the new interislander ferries, the carbon efficient rail supporting ones.
4. Undermining the national policy statement on freshwater management.
5. Killing off Wellington’s low emissions transport plan.
6. Cancelling Auckland’s light rail project.
7. Reversing New Zealand’s position on restrictions to bottom trawling seamounts. Bottom trawling releases large amounts of carbon stored on the ocean floor.
8. Announced a draft policy statement on land transport which slashed spending on cycling and walking and increased funding on motorways.
9. Cancelled Auckland’s Regional Fuel Tax which then caused the Eastern Busway to be cancelled.
10. Refusing to have “sustainable management” in the purposes clause of the fast track law.
11. Suspending the requirement for councils to identify significant natural areas (ie forests) so they could be protected.
12. Increasing speeds on roads. This directly increases emissions.
13. Hand picking a committee to review methane levels based on the “no additional warming” metric.
14. Cutting Ministry for the Environment staffing levels.
15. Reducing the liability of oil companies for cleaning up their mess.
16. Abolishing public transport subsidies for young people.
17. Changing RMA laws to remove the requirement for resource consent decision makers to prioritise ecosystem health and human health when making decisions about freshwater allocation.
18. Passing Budget 2024 which was projected to increase emissions by about 2.8 million tonnes and cut $2.4 billion from programmes designed to reduce emissions.
19. Overturning the offshore oil and gas exploration ban and changing the Crown Minerals Act to promote oil and gas exploration.
20. Postponing a price of emissions for agriculture and fertiliser companies.
21. Disestablished He Waka Eke Noa which was to designed to bring in a pricing mechanism for agricultural emissions.
22. Announcing a carbon capture and storage framework even though the technology has consistently not worked.
23. Announcing a vague five point climate change plan at the same time that news emerged that the country’s climate response was going backwards.
24. Weakening carbon efficiency standards for imported cars.
25. Publishing a draft Emissions Reduction Plan which relied on magic technology to cut methane emissions and magic carbon capture and storage.
26. Cutting funding to climate science.
27. Cuting jobs in the Environmental Protection Agency.
28. Announcing it would amend the RMA to effectively overturn court decisions which restrict water pollution.
29. Announcing RMA reforms that would not only stop the rollout of freshwater farm plans but would also weaken drinking water standards and indigenous biodiversity protection rules.
30. Pushing an amendment to the Companies Act which removed a requirement for Directors to consider environment, social and governance issues when making decisions.
31. Enacting the fast track legislation which included support for a list of preferred projects including coal mines and irrigation projects, which will increase emissions by facilitating dairy expansion.
32. Removing the renewable preference and renewable energy targets from the Government Policy Statement on Electricity.
33. Blocking regional councils from rolling out regional freshwater plans.
34. Cancelled regulations for low emission buildings.
35. Delayed company carbin disclosure rules.
36. One Minister said they would not buy offshore carbon credits to meet our Paris commitments.
37. Appointed fossil fuel lobbyist John Carnegie to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.
38. Released its final emissions reduction plan for 2026-30 which still relied on magical methane inhibitors and carbon capture and storage and lots and lots of pine trees on public and private land.
39. Cutting in half the number of companies that have to disclose their emissions.
40. The Climate Minister telling Federated Farmers that there was no legal obligation to meet the Paris targets, and no liability.
41. Further undermined the ETS by agreeing to double the subsidies to Rio Tinto by giving them free ETS carbon credits of $75m per year.
42. Closing the Green Investment Fund.
43. Gutting the proposal for freshwater farm plans.
44. Abstaining on putting a price on international maritime climate pollution as part of global efforts to cut shipping emissions.
45. Appointing John Roche, a dairy industry insider, to the role of Orime Minister’s chief science officer.
46. Budget 2025 allocating $200 million to co invest in new oil and gas exploration, giving an unlimited 20% write off for new investments and cutting the predator free program as well as overseas climate financing from $250 million to $100 million.
47. Planning to spend up to $50 billion dollars on Roads of National Significance.
48. Releasing a new energy policy that doubles down on expensive fossil fuels and the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas.
49. Weakening the climate-related financial disclosure regime and exempting more than half of the companies currently subject to the requirements just months after bragging about the policy on the world stage.
50. Announcing the halving of the ambition of New Zealand’s methane target, in defiance of the independent Climate Change Commission which had advised to strengthen it.
51. Scrapping plans to price emissions from agriculture, despite the National Party campaigning on the policy in 2023 and promising to implement it by 2030.
52. Abstaining on a critical vote in the International Maritime Organisation on a price on international shipping emissions, against Pacific and European allies who were blindsided by New Zealand’s backtracking.
53. Announcing plans to unilaterally gut key provisions of the Zero Carbon Act without consulting the Opposition.
54. Delaying the 2025 deadline for a carbon neutral public service by 25 years.

And since then they have done the following:

1. Undermining the functions of the Climate Change Commission and vesting in the Government the power to unilaterally change emissions reduction plans without even consulting on it.
2. Winding back the the clean car standard. This policy was intended to make kiwis buy more EVs and low emissions vehicles.
3. Fast tracking changes to the Fast Track legislation which will allow rapid consenting of various emissions producing activities including coal mines.
4. Refusing to implement any of the Climate Change Commission’s proposals for change.
5. Refusing to committing to adhere with the country’s Paris accord obligations.

Let me know in the comments if I have missed anything or if you think something does not belong. I intend to update this post regularly.