Climate Justice Taranaki

Energy Transition Submission Keypoints

The government is consulting on a series of papers as part of Energy Transition considerations. Below are ten key points you are welcome to borrow and adapt into your own submission. Simply email energystrategy@mbie.govt.nz with your contact details before 2 November 5pm.

  1. New Zealand’s energy transition needs to be informed by an independent whole-of-system energy analysis. It should not be driven by commercial interests.
  2. Renewable energies cannot support the same level of energy demand and economic activities made possible by fossil fuels. We need to strategically reduce the overall consumption, conserve energy and use it wisely and efficiently for collective wellbeing.
  3. I fully support banning new fossil-fuel baseload electricity generation and rapidly phasing out fossil gas peaking power generation also.
  4. I do not support blending hydrogen into fossil gas pipelines because that would create various technical and safety problems, add costs to households and have little effect on overall emissions.
  5. To support timely transition away from fossil gas, please keep the offshore petroleum exploration ban in place and extend it to onshore including Taranaki.
  6. I am opposed to using carbon capture, utilisation and storage to offset emissions by fossil fuel producers and high emitting industries. It has not been shown to effectively reduce net emissions, but rather serves as greenwashing.
  7. To address peaking and intermittency of renewables, put in place incentives, regulations, education and smart technologies to effectively lower peak demands. Invest substantially in storage such as batteries, and community renewable energy networks.
  8. To make energy more affordable and equitable, force the ‘gentailers’ to break up, thus allowing more opportunities for independent retailers and community-based operators.
  9. I am opposed to exporting hydrogen because it demands huge amounts of renewable energy and risks derailing NZ’s decarbonisation efforts. I do not support using ‘green’ hydrogen in urea fertiliser production because it prolongs the impacts of industrial farming notably soil and water pollution.
  10. Offshore wind energy developments should follow a government-led, spatially planned approach, after an independent whole-of-system analysis. Such developments are environmentally and economically risky and should not be developer-led.

If you want to provide feedback on a specific consultation, complete the relevant online survey provided in the MBIE website:

The consultation papers are available for download on MBIE website here.