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Zero Carbon Bill - Expert Reaction
The Government's proposed Zero Carbon Bill
lays out how they plan to transition New Zealand to a
low-emission economy by 2050.
The public
consultation process on the Bill opened on
June 7th, with the discussion
document asking citizens what they think the
2050 emissions targets should be. Each target has different
implications for New Zealand's climate and economy; the
options are:
net-zero carbon dioxide only
net-zero
long-lived gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide) and
stabilised short-lived gases like methane
or net-zero
emissions for all greenhouse gases.
The
Science Media Centre gathered expert reaction on the
proposed 2050 emissions targets, please feel free to use
these comments in your reporting.
Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey, Co-Director, Otago Energy Research Centre, University of Otago, comments:
"The Zero Carbon Bill will be an important stepping stone (see my previous comments) and provides context which should allow for the enactment of new climate policies or alterations of existing policy instruments (such as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)).
"It does not, however, guarantee the policies we need will be enacted. It also comes a decade after the UK enacted a similar piece of legislation and two decades since the Kyoto protocol was signed. We are still talking about how New Zealand should respond to climate change, whereas many countries have had strong policies in place for well over a decade.
"The options in the consultation for the Zero
Carbon Bill underline this. They are consulting on whether
to replace the 'current target of 50 per cent reduction
below 1990 levels by 2050' by either:
Net zero carbon
dioxide: reducing net carbon dioxide emissions to zero by
2050
net zero long-lived gases and stabilised
short-lived gases: reduce emissions of long-lived gases to
net zero by 2050, while also stabilising emissions of
short-lived gases
net zero emissions: net zero emissions
across all greenhouse gases.
"These are fundamentally
very different options and at the heart of these differences
are how ‘short lived’ agricultural emissions will be
treated. There is no question that agricultural emissions
are challenging, both in terms of measurement (as
highlighted by Professor
David Frame’s recent paper) and in terms of
mitigation.
"But, surely, option 1, where agricultural methane or nitrous oxide emission are effectively excluded, is not a realistic or equitable option? Professor Frame suggests an approach somewhere between option 2 and 3 which does leave some emphasis on reducing methane, but places greater emphasis on CO2.
"This is probably the right answer and it will require major changes to the ETS (so more policy uncertainty). But overall, it feels like we are still standing at the starting line asking where and how far we should run to shed some kilos, while many others have been running, and some running hard, for quite some time.
"Could we not at least jog (have policies that start
to reduce CO2, e.g. strong incentives for electric vehicles
and domestic energy efficiency) whilst we continue to figure
out exactly what we are going to do with
agriculture?"
No conflict of
interest.
Distinguished Professor Robert McLachlan, Applied Mathematics, Massey University, comments:
"Short-lived gases - such as methane from cows and sheep, but also generated to a lesser extent in rubbish dumps and by the oil and gas industry - are a flow pollutant. Emitting them at a steady rate leads to steady levels in the atmosphere.
"Long-lived gases - such as carbon dioxide emitted by burning coal, oil, and gas, and nitrous oxide emitted by animal manure and chemical fertilisers - are a stock pollutant. Emitting them at a steady rate leads to steadily increasing levels in the atmosphere.
"Current international rules include all these gases. New Zealand has a particular interest in separating short- and long-lived gases because we make a lot of money from activities that emit the short-lived gas methane.
"The first proposed target (net zero carbon dioxide by 2050) could be viewed as weaker than our current target (“50 by 50”, a 50% reduction of all greenhouse gases on 1990 levels by 2050) adopted in 2011, because it would allow unlimited increases in agricultural emissions.
"The second proposed target (net zero long-lived and stable short-lived gases), is roughly similar in ambition to “50 by 50”. The third, a true net zero target, is significantly more ambitious.
"Nevertheless, modelling commissioned by the Productivity Commission indicates that it can be achieved. Not only that, they found that net zero was not any harder for New Zealand than for other countries.
"There are good reasons for including flow pollutants in the target. New forests, which we expect a lot of in all scenarios, are analogous to flows, because the carbon stored by the forest does not build up indefinitely. Methane is responsible for a significant part, about a quarter, of current warming.
"Cutting methane emissions provide an immediate decrease in temperature; cutting carbon dioxide emissions does not. This may be significant as climate change impacts increase nonlinearly and we approach tipping points. Some ways of cutting agricultural and waste emissions are known already we need an incentive to adopt them."
No conflict of interest.
Professor Ralph Sims, Director, Centre for Energy Research, Massey University, comments:
"The latest science projections are
that we are currently on track to exceed 1.5oC warming in
around only 20 years’ time. Therefore public consultation
on the proposed Zero Carbon Bill, together with the need for
an independent Climate Change Commission, is timely – but
in many ways is long overdue.
"There is no question
that long-lived CO2 has to be reduced by urgently weaning
ourselves off fossil fuels. Recent reports from the Royal
Society, Vivid
Economics and the Productivity
Commission have shown how this can be
achieved.
"Planting more forests on to marginal pasture land will buy some time to phase out coal, oil and gas but can only be a temporary option.
"Nitrous oxide arising mainly from nitrogen fertilisers and animal urine is also a long-lived gas so it will have to be reduced, but having a much smaller total warming impact than annual CO2 emissions, it can be given a lower priority for now.
"Reducing methane emissions from sheep, deer and cattle (as well as wetlands, forest burning and paddy rice production elsewhere) is more debatable.
"Consultation on the Bill includes discussion around methane (CH4) being treated differently as it is a relatively short-lived gas in the atmosphere compared with CO2 for which each molecule emitted can last for hundreds of years.
"A simple analogy for cumulating long-lived CO2 emissions is a bath of water slowly filling up as the tap keeps dripping till it eventually overflows – (which is where CO2 emissions are now at, being around 410 parts per million – highest level for 800,000 years - and rising). However, for the methane bath, the plug is poorly fitted so some water continually leaks out as the dripping tap continues. If the leakage is at the same rate as the tap is dripping, then the water level in the bath remains stable. If the tap is turned on a little further (i.e. the flow of methane emissions increases due to farming more ruminant animals for example), then the water level will slowly rise a little and the global warming impact will be greater. So the argument is being made that stabilising the current stocks of methane in the atmosphere would be sufficient, at least in the short term.
"This would take the pressure off the farming sector having to reduce its emissions as in spite of much research, identified solutions to date give only small reductions, mostly taking some time to initiate (such as breeding animals that produce lower levels of emissions or modifying gut bacteria).
"However, the very same methane gas also enters the atmosphere from leakage at coal mines, natural gas fields and pipelines. Indeed NASA has recently confirmed this is the main source of the concentrations of methane that had mysteriously increased in the atmosphere over the past decade or so – especially from fracking.
"As methane molecules break down in the atmosphere over a decade or two, it produces CO2. If the methane is bio-based, it can be argued that the resulting CO2 is recycled back through the growing pasture or rice plants. However, if it is fossil-based methane, then the resulting CO2 is no different from that released from fossil fuel combustion.
"Therefore any mitigation policy that is less stringent on agricultural methane emissions has to consider its impact on fossil methane emissions that cause greater warming. In New Zealand, agricultural methane dominates but elsewhere fossil methane does.
"Under our
nationally determined contribution — where countries have
stated under the Paris agreement what their emissions
reduction will be by 2030 (NZ target is 11.2% below 1990
level or 30% below 2005 level which is same thing) — we
can use any means to reduce emissions as deemed most
appropriate. But the international debate about whether
methane can be treated differently to CO2 will be more
challenging.
"Overall, the opportunity provided for
businesses, organisations and individuals to consult on the
Zero Carbon Bill is commendable – and much credit must go
to Generation Zero for pushing hard for the government to
support their initiative over the past year or more. The aim
of Government to have the Zero Carbon Act and Climate Change
Commission in place at some time around the end of this year
should be supported. It is encouraging that the National
opposition is showing some support as there has to be
cross-party agreement to give long-term certainty. In this
regard, the UK model has proved to be highly successful over
the past 10 years.
"Given the continuing annual
increases in NZ’s net greenhouse gas emissions, and the
failure of the Emissions Trading Scheme to curb them,
stopping offshore oil/gas exploration was a brave start.
Further leadership from Government through implementing
strong policies is now essential and the Zero Carbon Act
will hopefully provide this before it becomes too
late."
No conflict of interest.
Barry Barton, Professor, Director of the Centre
for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law, University of
Waikato, comments:
Contact: +64 7 838
4187, barton@waikato.ac.nz
"The government proposals will bring welcome regularity, rationality, and openness to the process of setting targets and then delivering on targets, which in truth is the hard part.
'The process of carbon budgeting is essential.
'We should also look for legal requirements for policy action to implement the targets. We should look for action across a wide range of sectors (transport, housing, process heat, etc).
"What each sector will contribute, in kilotonnes of reduction, needs to be clear for each budget period.
"We need rules for an information base that guides our choices of different policies and pathways in behaviour and technology.
"We should look for clear relationships between these processes and the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme. (For example, the role of targets in the NZETS needs to be clarified.)
"Good law of this kind can make it easier to produce better climate change policy. It could have a lasting quasi-constitutional role."
No conflict of interest declared.
Science Media Centre NZ
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