The Climate Change Commission (CCC) is an independent Crown entity that was established in December 2019 under the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act.

The CCC is tasked with providing independent, expert advice to the Government on reducing emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change, and monitoring and reviewing the Government’s progress towards its emissions reductions and adaptation goals.

The CCC’s first task, and the subject of the Draft Advice released on 31 January 2021 is to provide the Government with advice on:

• the level of the first three five-yearly emissions budgets that will put Aotearoa on track to meeting its domestic 2030 and 2050 emissions targets
• the direction of policy that should be included in the Government’s first emissions reduction plan.

The Draft Advice Report contains a number of recommendations including that the Government must pick up the pace, reduce emissions at source and that current Government policies do not put Aotearoa on track to meet our recommended emissions budgets and the 2050 targets.

View the Report here

NZWEA in its submission is supportive of the CCC direction and focuses on two key areas which the Association considers present a significant risk to the achievement of carbon reduction budgets in the transport and energy sectors:

• A lack of integration of government policy making across climate change and other domains. Of immediate concern is the implications of proposed resource management system reforms which have the potential to significantly limit the industry’s ability to consent new renewable generation.
• Sustaining the energy trilemma in the transition of the electricity sector to a higher level of renewables particularly in a dry year situation when combined with a projected significant growth in demand.

View the Association’s submission here

The CCC will consider submissions before finalising its advice to Government.