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The place for NZ oriented news releases on climate change and related energy policy.
Big polluters capture climate change policy
26 February 2006
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has sharply criticised the Ministry for the Environment for allowing big business to capture the climate change policy process.
'The Ministry is consulting the big polluters, all of which would prefer the new policy to focus on voluntary measures,' said Gary Taylor, chairman of EDS.
'But it is not adequately consulting environmental groups, many of which have specialist knowledge of climate change policy and advocate harder measures including the use of economic instruments.
'Earlier this month government officials held an exclusive, closed meeting with the big polluters. This is of great concern as big emitters have a vested interest in delaying action on climate change. If this happens, the costs of future emissions will ultimately be shifted onto the taxpayer and the environment. The policy development process has become captured by big business.
'In the week before Christmas the government axed the carbon tax. The formulation of that tax was subject to 18 months consultation with all sectors of society. But it did a u-turn after consulting the big polluters and no one else and buried the decision in the Christmas rush.
'That was bad policy and we look set to have the dose repeated.
'By early next month (March) the Ministry is reporting to Ministers on the work program for the policy review. The scope of the program will determine the range of potential policy mixes so this is a critical time for climate change policy.
'The Ministry has a statutory duty to consult widely and effectively and failing to do so will result in biased information and ineffective outcomes. Climate Change is the biggest threat facing the planet and we need to get the policy right. It is quite wrong for officials to only engage with the people who are causing the problem.
"The 3 public meetings it is holding in the main centres are not places where this complex issue can be properly discussed.
"I would like the Minister for Climate Change Issues, Hon David Parker, to instruct officials to ensure that all interests across civil society have a substantive chance to be involved in the policy formulation process. If that means that more time should be made available then it should be," Mr Taylor concluded. "The issue is too important to allow it to be captured by narrow sectoral interests."
26 February 2006
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has sharply criticised the Ministry for the Environment for allowing big business to capture the climate change policy process.
'The Ministry is consulting the big polluters, all of which would prefer the new policy to focus on voluntary measures,' said Gary Taylor, chairman of EDS.
'But it is not adequately consulting environmental groups, many of which have specialist knowledge of climate change policy and advocate harder measures including the use of economic instruments.
'Earlier this month government officials held an exclusive, closed meeting with the big polluters. This is of great concern as big emitters have a vested interest in delaying action on climate change. If this happens, the costs of future emissions will ultimately be shifted onto the taxpayer and the environment. The policy development process has become captured by big business.
'In the week before Christmas the government axed the carbon tax. The formulation of that tax was subject to 18 months consultation with all sectors of society. But it did a u-turn after consulting the big polluters and no one else and buried the decision in the Christmas rush.
'That was bad policy and we look set to have the dose repeated.
'By early next month (March) the Ministry is reporting to Ministers on the work program for the policy review. The scope of the program will determine the range of potential policy mixes so this is a critical time for climate change policy.
'The Ministry has a statutory duty to consult widely and effectively and failing to do so will result in biased information and ineffective outcomes. Climate Change is the biggest threat facing the planet and we need to get the policy right. It is quite wrong for officials to only engage with the people who are causing the problem.
"The 3 public meetings it is holding in the main centres are not places where this complex issue can be properly discussed.
"I would like the Minister for Climate Change Issues, Hon David Parker, to instruct officials to ensure that all interests across civil society have a substantive chance to be involved in the policy formulation process. If that means that more time should be made available then it should be," Mr Taylor concluded. "The issue is too important to allow it to be captured by narrow sectoral interests."
Climate change - we're going the wrong way
By ROD ORAM
The debate over climate change and the response to it have advanced dramatically over the past year in the rest of the world. In New Zealand, they have taken a giant leap backwards.
Elsewhere in the world, scientists, businesses, politicians, non-government organisations and the public have significantly raised their knowledge of the issue and found constructive new ways to work together on it.
Businesses have advanced the most. Ever more of them understand climate change is a direct threat to them; but one that is an opportunity not a cost if they play their role in tackling it. "
By ROD ORAM
The debate over climate change and the response to it have advanced dramatically over the past year in the rest of the world. In New Zealand, they have taken a giant leap backwards.
Elsewhere in the world, scientists, businesses, politicians, non-government organisations and the public have significantly raised their knowledge of the issue and found constructive new ways to work together on it.
Businesses have advanced the most. Ever more of them understand climate change is a direct threat to them; but one that is an opportunity not a cost if they play their role in tackling it. "
Company Officially Opens Geothermal Plant
Tuaropaki Power Company Officially Opens Geothermal Plant Extension at Mokai
On Saturday 25 February 2006, the Tuaropaki Power Company held their official opening ceremony for the Mokai Geothermal Power Station extension. The 39 MW extension brings the total Mokai output up to 94 MW. This power station alone will generate almost 2% of New Zealand's total electricity requirements, and will be in the nation's top 15 stations in terms of annual output.
Tuaropaki Power Company will now be the 6th largest electricity generator in New Zealand. Geothermal power stations supply a reliable base load of generation that is independent of rainfall or wind."
Tuaropaki Power Company Officially Opens Geothermal Plant Extension at Mokai
On Saturday 25 February 2006, the Tuaropaki Power Company held their official opening ceremony for the Mokai Geothermal Power Station extension. The 39 MW extension brings the total Mokai output up to 94 MW. This power station alone will generate almost 2% of New Zealand's total electricity requirements, and will be in the nation's top 15 stations in terms of annual output.
Tuaropaki Power Company will now be the 6th largest electricity generator in New Zealand. Geothermal power stations supply a reliable base load of generation that is independent of rainfall or wind."
New Dumping carbon tax mad move
The announcement before Christmas that the Government was dropping the proposed carbon tax was bad news for business, the country and the environment.
An analysis of the 475-page report from the Ministry for the Environment and the consequent Cabinet paper reveals it to be a poorly justified, rushed decision that effectively replaces a robust policy framework with possible soft measures that will not work.
And what is not well understood is that it will increase New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions significantly.
The decision will undermine New Zealand's credibility internationally. We have been a leader at the United Nations negotiations and have had the political courage to differentiate ourselves from the United States, which strenuously opposes price-based measures at least at federal Government level. "
The announcement before Christmas that the Government was dropping the proposed carbon tax was bad news for business, the country and the environment.
An analysis of the 475-page report from the Ministry for the Environment and the consequent Cabinet paper reveals it to be a poorly justified, rushed decision that effectively replaces a robust policy framework with possible soft measures that will not work.
And what is not well understood is that it will increase New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions significantly.
The decision will undermine New Zealand's credibility internationally. We have been a leader at the United Nations negotiations and have had the political courage to differentiate ourselves from the United States, which strenuously opposes price-based measures at least at federal Government level. "
New Kyoto burden could double to $600m
Taxpayers face a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the increasing practice of converting plantation forest land to pasture when the trees are felled.
Officials have warned the Government that deforestation could double the extent to which New Zealand falls short of its target under the Kyoto Protocol, the international climate change treaty.
Under Kyoto's rules, a country earns credits when land is switched from a low-carbon use such as grass to a high-carbon one such as forestry. "
Taxpayers face a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the increasing practice of converting plantation forest land to pasture when the trees are felled.
Officials have warned the Government that deforestation could double the extent to which New Zealand falls short of its target under the Kyoto Protocol, the international climate change treaty.
Under Kyoto's rules, a country earns credits when land is switched from a low-carbon use such as grass to a high-carbon one such as forestry. "
By George, he's got it: biofuels
There's one for connoisseurs of irony. In his State of the Union speech last week, President George W. Bush pledged to increase funding for research into the production of ethanol, not from things we can eat like corn or sugar but from cellulosic materials such as wood chips and corn stalks.
The goal was to make ethanol from such sources practical and competitive as a transport fuel within six years, the President said.
Never mind that the justification he advanced was all about energy security and reducing America's reliance on imported oil, rather than reducing its contribution to global warming. Advocates of biofuels can only applaud such an initiative. "
There's one for connoisseurs of irony. In his State of the Union speech last week, President George W. Bush pledged to increase funding for research into the production of ethanol, not from things we can eat like corn or sugar but from cellulosic materials such as wood chips and corn stalks.
The goal was to make ethanol from such sources practical and competitive as a transport fuel within six years, the President said.
Never mind that the justification he advanced was all about energy security and reducing America's reliance on imported oil, rather than reducing its contribution to global warming. Advocates of biofuels can only applaud such an initiative. "
Algae spread may be impossible to halt
Biosecurity New Zealand concedes it may not be possible to prevent the invasive algae didymo spreading throughout the country's waterways.
Biosecurity NZ's surveillance and incursion response manager, David Hayes, said after a meeting with Environment Canterbury yesterday that it was likely didymo, or rocksnot, would be found in other South Island catchments. "
Biosecurity New Zealand concedes it may not be possible to prevent the invasive algae didymo spreading throughout the country's waterways.
Biosecurity NZ's surveillance and incursion response manager, David Hayes, said after a meeting with Environment Canterbury yesterday that it was likely didymo, or rocksnot, would be found in other South Island catchments. "
Strongest warning yet on the greenhouse gas crisis
There's a way out from the greenhouse gas crisis - grow more trees, plant more stuff, and use if for fuel instead of oil, says Dr Peter Read.
The Massey University scientist is the New Zealand contributor to the massive report just released by the British Government and attracting headlines around the world.
Dr Read says most of the report is devoted to emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. The Gulf Stream that keeps the North Atlantic much warmer than the North Pacific is slowing and may stop; bad news for our relatives in Scotland. Tele-connection of the glaciers on Greenland and Antarctica means that the whole glacier mass accelerates as bits get nibbled away by the warming ocean, causing tens of meters of sea level rise much faster than previously thought possible; bad news for the Beehive.
More CO2 in the air means more CO2 in the oceans, forming carbonic acid and extinction of the small organisms at the bottom of the food chain; bad news for the whales we struggle to save on our beaches."
There's a way out from the greenhouse gas crisis - grow more trees, plant more stuff, and use if for fuel instead of oil, says Dr Peter Read.
The Massey University scientist is the New Zealand contributor to the massive report just released by the British Government and attracting headlines around the world.
Dr Read says most of the report is devoted to emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. The Gulf Stream that keeps the North Atlantic much warmer than the North Pacific is slowing and may stop; bad news for our relatives in Scotland. Tele-connection of the glaciers on Greenland and Antarctica means that the whole glacier mass accelerates as bits get nibbled away by the warming ocean, causing tens of meters of sea level rise much faster than previously thought possible; bad news for the Beehive.
More CO2 in the air means more CO2 in the oceans, forming carbonic acid and extinction of the small organisms at the bottom of the food chain; bad news for the whales we struggle to save on our beaches."
Sheridan Creek metal stabilisation workshop
When: 23 - 26 February 2006
Where: Sheridan Creek, Otaki Forks - Tararua Forest Park
Description: Sheridan Creek is the location of a 1930s logging site, complete with log hauler, railway formation and timber mill site. The site was abandoned in the late 1930s but remains New Zealand?s best and most complete example of an early logging industry still on its original site. The aim is to manage and reduce the rust on the metal machinery and rails as well as map and document the site. This year's activities will focus on the timber mill site and the railway formation uncovered in 2005. "
When: 23 - 26 February 2006
Where: Sheridan Creek, Otaki Forks - Tararua Forest Park
Description: Sheridan Creek is the location of a 1930s logging site, complete with log hauler, railway formation and timber mill site. The site was abandoned in the late 1930s but remains New Zealand?s best and most complete example of an early logging industry still on its original site. The aim is to manage and reduce the rust on the metal machinery and rails as well as map and document the site. This year's activities will focus on the timber mill site and the railway formation uncovered in 2005. "
Upton-on-Line
A taxing climate
One of the casualties of the big deep breath that seems to follow each election has been the carbon tax. Upton-on-line has not followed the detail of how this particular policy wreck has come about so it would be presumptuous to pretend to any expertise about the particularities. But a massive shortfall in plantation forest sequestration of carbon probably played a role. The extent to which NZ governments since the mid-1990s had planned to curb emissions,had always been limited on the basis that large amounts of carbon would be stored in rapidly growing forests. Fortuitous forestry expansion would provide a relatively painless way of meeting Kyoto targets while accommodating a good slug of emissions growth in the medium term. Lower sequestration than expected raised the prospect of more rigorous emissions reduction measures if New Zealand was going to stand by its commitments. "
A taxing climate
One of the casualties of the big deep breath that seems to follow each election has been the carbon tax. Upton-on-line has not followed the detail of how this particular policy wreck has come about so it would be presumptuous to pretend to any expertise about the particularities. But a massive shortfall in plantation forest sequestration of carbon probably played a role. The extent to which NZ governments since the mid-1990s had planned to curb emissions,had always been limited on the basis that large amounts of carbon would be stored in rapidly growing forests. Fortuitous forestry expansion would provide a relatively painless way of meeting Kyoto targets while accommodating a good slug of emissions growth in the medium term. Lower sequestration than expected raised the prospect of more rigorous emissions reduction measures if New Zealand was going to stand by its commitments. "
Stark warning over climate change
Climate report conclusions
Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases may have more serious impacts than previously believed, a major scientific report has said.
The report, published by the UK government, says there is only a small chance of greenhouse gas emissions being kept below 'dangerous' levels.
It fears the Greenland ice sheet is likely to melt, leading sea levels to rise by 7m (23ft) over 1,000 years.
Climate report conclusions
Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases may have more serious impacts than previously believed, a major scientific report has said.
The report, published by the UK government, says there is only a small chance of greenhouse gas emissions being kept below 'dangerous' levels.
It fears the Greenland ice sheet is likely to melt, leading sea levels to rise by 7m (23ft) over 1,000 years.
Wind farm ruling appealed
An appeal was lodged yesterday against a decision to allow Meridian Energy to build 70 wind turbines near Makara in Wellington.
The Wellington City Council received 4337 submissions, mostly in support of the $380 million Project West Wind, set to cover a 56sq km area known as Quartz Hill and Terawhiti Station.
However, Hugh Barr, spokesman for the Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust, said yesterday that the trust had appealed against the decision of the commissioners of the Wellington City and Regional Councils to allow the wind farm to go ahead. "
An appeal was lodged yesterday against a decision to allow Meridian Energy to build 70 wind turbines near Makara in Wellington.
The Wellington City Council received 4337 submissions, mostly in support of the $380 million Project West Wind, set to cover a 56sq km area known as Quartz Hill and Terawhiti Station.
However, Hugh Barr, spokesman for the Quartz Hill Reserve Charitable Trust, said yesterday that the trust had appealed against the decision of the commissioners of the Wellington City and Regional Councils to allow the wind farm to go ahead. "
