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The National Party has reaffirmed that if elected to Government it will repeal the offshore oil and gas exploration ban, introduced by the Labour-NZ First-Green Government in 2018.
National’s energy spokesperson Stuart Smith further hashed out the National Party’s approach to climate change in the energy sector, during a speech to the Energy Trusts of New Zealand and the Waipa Networks Association in Cambridge on Thursday.
Climate has been a politically difficult area for the National Party for a number of years.
The party supports the international instruments New Zealand has signed up to, but disagrees with many of the Government’s measures to help deal with it – especially in the energy sector.
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Oil and gas that is exported and burnt overseas does not count towards New Zealand’s emission profile, although emission expended in the production of it is.
Andy Jackson/Stuff
The Labour-NZ First-Green Government in 2018 banned the offshore exploration of oil and gas (file photo)
The Government has argued that regardless of the accounting, New Zealand should not be exploring for offshore fossil fuels.
In the energy space, Smith argued that New Zealand’s 100% renewable target was costly, delivered few emissions gains and that gas should continue to be a part of the mix.
Anthony Phelps/STUFF
National party leader Christopher Luxon with local Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith talking to the Marlborough Express in Blenheim.
“Gas will be part of the solution to deliver Net Zero. We need it to secure our electricity system and to keep energy affordable. That is why National has committed to restarting offshore oil and gas exploration.
“Analysis has consistently shown that replacing the last few percent of thermal generation is ruinously expensive, and actually counterproductive to reducing emissions,” Smith said.
In the speech that canvassed energy problems in Europe, but did not mention the war in Ukraine, Smith made the case for New Zealand moving carefully on a pathway to renewable energy, and balancing the need to reach carbon net-zero by 2050 in an affordable manner.
The speech comes as Climate Change minister James Shaw prepares to leave of Friday for the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
“National is committed to achieving carbon net-zero by 2050. But we recognise that an ambitious goal like that can only be achieved in a way that is fair to everyone and doesn’t impoverish us all,” Smith said in his speech.
National is also concerned that climate change is being put ahead of energy security and affordability, after blackouts in 2021 and high demand for power during this winter.
“Energy and climate change policies must work together and be based on realism,” Smith said.
The speech comes a month after the Government revealed its response to the He Waka Eke Noa report into farmgate emissions. Under the Government’s plan farmers will start to pay for emissions from 2025, with a backstop option of a processor-level levy if the system is not ready by that time.
National leader Christopher Luxon has said that National would repeal the changes as they currently if it formed Government.
The Parliament is currently split on the issue of offshore gas bans: both the National and ACT parties have said they would repel the ban, while Labour the Greens and Te Pāti Maori all support the ban. The latter two parties also support a ban on onshore gas exploration, which continues under the current Labour Government.
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