Climate Justice Taranaki describes the government’s announcement to partner with BlackRock as a dangerous slippery slope of aggravated energy corporatisation, risking Aotearoa New Zealand’s collective energy sovereignty.

“We are talking about energy as a basic need for people, not profit-driven industries. Many families in Aotearoa are already facing energy hardship, struggling to keep their homes warm. Inviting a corporate giant built on an obscene amount of revenues in fossil fuels and weaponry, $109 billion in coal alone, and propping up companies that violate indigenous human rights, is like inviting a fox into a hen house,” said Catherine Cheung, spokesperson of Climate Justice Taranaki.

“For sure, investments are needed to decarbonise our electricity sector, but they should come from the government deriving revenues from polluters and the wealthy. The focus needs to be on community renewable energy systems which empower people and build local resilience,” continued Cheung.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has repeatedly asked the government to conduct a whole energy system analysis to properly inform a national energy strategy. A system wide analysis would also help to reveal the opportunity costs of emerging developments like green hydrogen and offshore wind energy. In June this year, the Commissioner wrote, “different pathways raise different risks along the way to eliminating fossil emissions. A legacy gas generation industry is understandably interested in prolonging its existence in the transition. Energy-intensive export industries want access to scarce renewable energy...”

“Rather than fast-tracking industrial-scale renewable electricity projects ahead of a national energy strategy, we should get rid of the most energy intensive and polluting industries like dried milk powder for export and urea fertiliser manufacturing. We need to seriously think about capping and then reducing our overall energy demand, and prioritising that energy for communities. This is critical because our planet simply cannot sustain an insatiable demand for energy and materials, yet humanity can only thrive on a healthy planet.

A planned Degrowth is what we need to ensure sufficiency and community wellbeing as we face head-on increasing ecological and socio-economic challenges. Climate Justice Taranaki invites all to the Beyond Growth Conference Taranaki at Te Whare Hononga, Taranaki Cathedral, from 16-17 September,” concluded Cheung

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