In July 2019 The Ministry of Transport released a consultation document Moving the light vehicle fleet to low-emissions: discussion paper.

The Discussion Paper covers both the proposed Clean Car Standard and Clean Car Discount scheme.

Transport accounts for 20 percent of New Zealand’s domestic emissions and has been the fastest growing source of emissions by far. Transport emissions increased 82 percent over the period 1990-2017, with emissions from road transport increasing by 93 percent. This compares with 23 percent for emissions across the economy.

The New Zealand Productivity Commission and the Interim Climate Change Committee have both recommended prioritising action to reduce transport emissions as a key opportunity to decarbonise.

The Association is supportive of both the clean car standard and clean car discount proposals and is confident, with appropriate planning, the increase in electricity demand from these initiatives can be met by renewable generation sources.

The Association has a number of comments and suggestions aimed at improving the effectiveness of the proposals and accelerating the adoption of EV’s and PHEV’s as time and cumulative emissions matter.

The key themes are:

• Strong support for a key proposal to reduce emissions.
• An opportunity to leverage New Zealand’s renewable electricity generation potential.
• Timing is an imperative and we need to act faster.
• Where emissions reduce matters and the focus should be on carbon reduction opportunities as a priority.
• System wide approach required to achieve the highest value transition.

The Association’s submission can be viewed below: