PEPANZ acknowledges new emissions report
--
The Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) says a new report from the Ministry for the Environment today on global and domestic greenhouse gas emissions shows the challenges ahead of us.

"The report 'Our atmosphere and climate 2017' is an important contribution to the discussion around dealing with greenhouse gas emissions," says PEPANZ Chief Executive Cameron Madgwick.

"It shows the challenges New Zealand, and the world, faces in balancing the strong demand for affordable energy with reducing emissions. It also reinforces that policy around carbon emissions should be consistent across sectors.

"Oil and gas provides around half of New Zealand's energy needs, and is crucial in transport, industry and people's daily lives. We saw a recent example of this with the rupture in the fuel pipeline to Auckland which caused major disruption.

"Importantly, natural gas produces half the carbon emissions of coal which is widely used for electricity generation around the world. Switching to gas is one of the fastest and easiest ways to reduce emissions, and New Zealand has real potential to discover and produce more of this valuable natural resource.

"As a society and industry we need to keep working on improving our energy efficiency, and developing new technologies like carbon capture and sequestration."

Last year PEPANZ launched the 'Energy Mix' website, aimed at providing an accessible and easy to understand guide to energy issues: www.energymix.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media