Simon Watts with Transport Minister Simeon Brown (right). Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts differentiated between types of coal when asked about the climate impact of opening up mining.
Watts was asked at the Climate Change and Business Conference in Auckland how he squared the statement that New Zealand needed to get out of using coal for electricity, with reducing red tape for coal mines.
"The reality is there's coal and there's coal - the coal we produce in New Zealand, in the South Island, isn't used to be burned at Huntly - it's used to put in your mobile phone that's right in front of you. It's high-end coal and is burned offshore."
The world energy body, the International Energy Agency, says there can be no new investment in oil, gas and coal if governments are serious about stopping climate change.
In response to criticisms from Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton and others that the government's draft Emissions Reduction Plan was seriously lacking, Watts said he was pushing Transport Minister Simeon Brown and others in Cabinet to do more on emissions.
"I am pushing my ministers, in regards to ministers that have responsibility for transport energy and agriculture, which are the three big pillars, that we need to go harder and faster in term of emissions reduction, because the numbers in the draft are pretty tight, I admit that," he said
Watts said Fonterra and Genesis alone could make a significant difference to New Zealand's emissions, and the government was open to talking to them about how it could help, though not necessarily "writing a cheque".
He said he and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had been having "high-level conversations" in Thailand and elsewhere about opening the way to trade in international carbon credits "should we need to deploy them" to meet climate targets.
However he did not directly answer whether the government was going to purchase carbon credits from other countries, to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Then-Prime Minister Sir John Key at the Paris climate talks in 2015. Photo: AFP
Watts said the "political reality" was that New Zealanders he spoke to did not feel comfortable with the government spending $4 billion overseas.
The purchases have been part of the plan to meet New Zealand's Paris Agreement commitments since John Key's government made New Zealand's first pledge in 2015. The target was designed to include climate action inside New Zealand as well as a top-up from helping other countries decarbonise.
To avoid purchasing any carbon credits from overseas, the government would need to over-achieve on New Zealand's own, domestic emissions budgets by cutting an extra 100 million tonnes from the country's emissions in the next five years.
For context, New Zealand is currently aiming to make around 50 million tonnes of carbon savings inside the country from 2021-2030. Independent watchdogs have said even achieving that level of change is uncertain based on the current government's current policies.
