Download Seniors Climate Action Network

Seniors Climate Action Network (SCAN) Dunedin
Submission on the Government's Climate Target Consultation
May 2015
We are a group of senior citizens who care passionately about the next generation and the world they will inherit.
We are committed to raising awareness of climate change to encourage transition to a low carbon economy
Stuart Mathieson
Suzanne Menzies-Culling
Gabrielle Panckhurst
Patricia Scott
Donna Peacock
Neil Peacock
Nathan Parker
Rosemary Penwarden
Vic Mills
Carolyne Smith
Neil James
Sonya Antonsen
Robert De Senna
Jen Wilson
Annemarie Parsons
Judy Martin
Marvin Hubbard
Terisha Hubbard
Scott Willis
Helen Ingrams
Jane Ashman
Vivienne Adams
Elizabeth Duke
Elizabeth Thompson
Bridie Lonie
We have invested in our children and grandchildren, our nieces and nephews, our mokopuna. We have
made sure they know they are loved, they have had good healthy food to eat, that they have received a good
education, that they have a strong set of values, that they care for those who are less well off than themselves, and
that they love the beautiful New Zealand environment and all the wonderful creatures that inhabit it. This inheritance
should stand them in good stead.
But, what else is New Zealand’s next generation inheriting from us? They are inheriting a world which has
been plundered, resources running out, reducing quality of air, soil and water, and many species being driven closer
to extinction. Most of all we are bequeathing them climate change. The world’s addiction to “more”, to
consumerism, to burning fossil fuels that are putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, is causing the
temperature of the Earth to warm bringing extreme weather events, rising sea levels, melting ice caps and glaciers,
floods and droughts. All the scenarios indicate that food production will be much reduced causing famine. and
climate change refugees will be looking for new homes. The global community realizes that time is running out to
prevent run away climate change.
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Young people are at a stage of their lives when they should be able to feel enthusiastic and excited about the
future. They look forward to studying, starting a career, perhaps setting up a home with a partner. They are our
country’s future, the nation will rely on them to provide for the elderly, the sick and those in need in the years
ahead. However. many young people feel disillusioned, undervalued and hopeless. They cannot understand why
their elders and leaders appear to be so reluctant to take every action available to them to counter climate
change. The measures the government is contemplating as some mitigation, namely an ETS, and agricultural
research on ruminants to reduce methane emissions, are ineffective. At the same time young people see the
government pursuing business as usual, which according to the MFE, puts New Zealand on course, not to
decrease emissions but to increase them by 50%. They see them building motorways, subsidizing the
exploration for oil and gas,. de-electrifying a rail line, gutting the ETS so that the forestry sector has had to cut down
more trees than it plants each year, choosing to spend $52 billion on overseas carbon credits because emissions are
increasing, when it could spend that money on smart green technologies which allow us to transition to a low
carbon economy. Is it any wonder the young feel hopeless?
At the MFE meeting on this consultation in Dunedin we heard an impassioned cry from a 30 year old man
agonizing with his wife over the decision of whether to bring children into the world. This is apparently an
issue that many young couples are struggling with and it would be sad if individuals felt they had to forgo the joys
of parenthood because of the uncertainty of life on a planet undergoing runaway climate change. Furthermore for the
nation, a falling birthrate would put a bigger load on those who are working and providing the taxes to pay for
health, education, pensions and all the other infrastructure of the economy.
“SCAN members, and those citizens of our generation, have been fortunate to have received the benefits of a
state-funded education to tertiary level, greater job security, at least prior to 1984, and a generous state funded
pension scheme. We have also enjoyed the benefits of a clean and green. Now, by their failure to adopt effective
mitigation measures, the government expects the next generation to carry the costs of climate change. We deplore the
intergenerational inequity. Unfortunately it seems we have so far failed to persuade our fellow New Zealanders of the
urgent need to address climate change. Unless we turn this around we will be failing future generations.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Climate Action Costs
The Ministry of the Environment document on our Climate Change Target from 2020; talks about costs but not
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opportunities for reducing CO emissions. The document The New Climate Economy Report disputes this and says:
“There is a perception that there is a trade-off in the short- to medium term between economic growth and climate
action, but this is due largely to a misconception (built into many model-based assessments) that economies are
static, unchanging and perfectly efficient. Any reform or policy which forces an economy to deviate from this
counterfactual incurs a trade-off or cost, so any climate policy is often found to impose large short- and mediumterm costs.
In reality, however, there are a number of reform opportunities that can reduce market failures and rigidities that
lead to the inefficient allocation of resources, hold back growth and generate excess greenhouse gas emissions.
Indeed, once the multiple benefits of measures to reduce GHG emissions are taken into consideration, such as the
potential health gains from better local air quality, many of the perceived net costs can be reduced or eliminated. “
This perception seems to be a major roadblock for the Government to taking Climate Action and needs to be
urgently examined and debated by the community and government.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies
SCAN considers the continued New Zealand government subsidies to fossil fuel production an impediment to a low
carbon economy and immoral. SCAN asks that the New Zealand Government places an immediate moratorium on
fossil fuel exploration, and pledges to phase out existing extraction within the decade. All subsidies, funding
and tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry are also phased out within the decade
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SCAN RECOMMENDATIONS for New Zealand's CO target:
Any target needs to be based on the science and on the IPCC documents of 2014. Bob Lloyd's (retired Associate
Professor of Physics at Otago University and Head of Energy Studies) reading of the documents suggests a figure of
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8% reduction of CO per year on 1990 figures.
We ask that NZ’s target for Paris be a minimum of 40% reduction by 2030, and for zero net carbon
emissions by 2050.
We need legislation that holds the government accountable for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and we
need an independent climate commission.
We need to take Denmark’s commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050 with minimal cost, as the example to
strive for. An important guide in doing this is The New Climate Economy Report
SCAN’s SUGGESTIONS for a New Zealand Climate Action Plan
The CO2 target needs to include an action plan similar to the UKs Climate Change Plan on how the target is
going to be reached and should include:
• Aim for 100% renewable electricity generation, also micro generation should be encouraged.
• A transport plan to move freight off the roads as much as possible, and on to an electrified rail system and coastal
shipping, serviced by electric vehicles, reducing our commitment to building new roads.
• Swapping coal for wood waste industrial heating.
• Managed forestry plantings to create sustainable forest carbon sinks.
• Looking at options for low density dairy and developing agriculture that is less reliant on artificial fertilizers.
• Improving the energy efficiency of buildings and designing our cities in an energy efficient way
• Establish a cross-party climate working group.
• Reduced reliance on buying overseas carbon credits.
• Financial assistance to assist poor countries to help them provide health and education programmes, to develop
low carbon technologies and to develop sustainable food production.
SCAN wants to see meaningful policy changes that will start cutting New Zealand’s emissions, during the
term of this government.
SCAN considers that a low-carbon economy offers a huge opportunity for a resilient and sustainable NZ in
a peaceful prosperous world.