Dame Patsy Reddy Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Former Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy has been appointed as the new chair of the Climate Change Commission, replacing Rod Carr whose term ended last week.
Dame Patsy is also the former chairperson of NZ Rugby.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said Dame Patsy comes to the role "with an extensive and distinguished career in law and governance."
Deputy chair Lisa Tumahai will be acting chair of the commission until next February.
Watts also appointed Felicity Underhill and Devon McLean as climate commissioners, replacing Catherine Leining and Professor James Renwick.
Outgoing climate change commission chairperson Rod Carr used his last appearance before MPs last week to tell them that those who continued to promote combustion of fossil fuels in open air without permanent carbon capture and storage were in his view committing a "crime against humanity".
Asked by Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick for a final message to politicians, Carr said: "What my kids would say is that I should have known this stuff a long time ago."
"I think we're past the point where any of our elected leaders can afford not to know and understand that human activity is changing the climate, that the science is telling us it is changing more rapidly than we thought, science is explaining better how it shows up in our backyard, and those who continue to promote combustion of fossil fuels in open air without permanent carbon capture and storage are in my view committing a crime against humanity."
Carr said his biggest regret from the early part of his five-year tenure was presenting climate action as a burdensome responsibility to future generations, when in fact it was in New Zealand's financial self interests.
"The purpose (of New Zealand climate law) is not to do as little as possible as late as possible, and it is now increasingly clear that delay is costly," he told the Environment Select Committee of MPs, reminding them that 119 MPs passed the Climate Change Response Act.
"It is in our own self interest as a country to reduce emissions, particularly in the energy sector where the technologies now available enable New Zealand for the first time to have in line of sight energy independence, where we are not hooked to long complex supply chains of liquid fossil fuels, a price we don't control and imports that we don't control ourselves," he said.
Watts has also appointed energy specialist Felicity Underhill and conservationist and former forestry executive with Carter Holt Harvey Devon McLean as climate commissioners, replacing carbon markets specialist Catherine Leining and climate scientist Professor James Renwick.
In a statement, Watts highlighted Underhill's "active involvement" "in future fuel transition programmes around hydrogen.
He said the commission would benefit from McLean's forestry industry experience and governance expertise.
Scientist react to commission's latest advice
Climate scientists and researchers have applauded the Climate Commission's last major piece of advice to the Government under Carr's leadership.
The commission called for New Zealand to aim to be carbon-negative by 2050 - sucking out of the atmosphere 20 million tonnes a year more carbon dioxide than it emits.
Scientists commenting on the commission's advice to the Science Media Centre said the recommendation was necessary and achievable - but several questioned whether the government would listen.
The goal would include emissions from planes and ships travelling between New Zealand and other countries - activities which produce as much global heating as passenger cars, but don't count towards New Zealand's current target.
Associate Professor Inga Smith, co-director of He Kaupapa Hononga: Otago's Climate Change Research Network said if shipping and aviation emissions were not included "then they will continue to grow."
"New Zealand does not even currently have a good estimate of what our emissions are from this sector, let alone have a plan to reduce them," she said.
Energy and carbon market specialist Christina Hood said it was a sad indictment of politics that the commission's advice was seen as brave.
"The commission's advice is not radical - if anything it's a bit pedestrian," she said.
"I think the commission's energy scenarios don't go far enough - the International Energy Agency's net-zero energy scenario decarbonises energy, transport and industry faster than the commission's most ambitious scenario, and a true 1.5C-aligned scenario would look more like that."
Dr Jocelyn Turnbull, a principal scientist specialising in the carbon cycle at GNS Science, said the big question would "be whether government and the people of New Zealand are willing to take those ambitious actions" to meet the ambitious goal set out.
She said the actions the commission was proposing were "realistic and feasible" and would benefit New Zealanders on energy costs and reducing reliance on fossil fuel imports.
Professor Emeritus Ralph, who works in Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation at Massey University, said the recommendation to move toward carbon-negative was backed by recent reports from the top global climate science body, the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He agreed the key question was whether the coalition would listen "given the number of new policies implemented in the past 12 months that will only serve to increase our gross emissions."
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