Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says a plan unveiled on Wednesday will ensure will New Zealand meets its emissions budgets and reaches net zero carbon dioxide emissions as early as 2044.
Despite an 84 million tonne gap needing to be filled to meet New Zealand's first target under the Paris Agreement, Watts says he remains absolutely committed to meeting the target - but he did not say whether the government would commit to topping up using carbon offsets from overseas or how else the gap will be filled.
He said the government was still considering a new recommendation by the Climate Change Commission to move from aiming for net zero emissions to "net negative" or pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050.
Watts said the government added to its emissions cutting plan covering 2026-2030 after consultation, to include chapters on building and housing and technology, and reflecting feedback from rangatahi who were concerned that the phrase "least cost" meant saving money now at the expense of future generations.
The Green Building Council said although it was pleasing to see a chapter on housing added to the plan, it failed to include "easy wins and opportunities for slashing building emissions."
The two actions mentioned in the plan on building - which accounts for 12 percent of the country's emissions - were expanding voluntary energy performance ratings for non-residential buildings and making it easier for people to retrofit their buildings to improve energy efficiency.
"Coming from a draft plan that effectively ignored buildings and construction, it is welcome to see acknowledgment of the role our sector can play. However, the vague statements have no firm commitments and don't deliver significant change," Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles said.
Transport is one of New Zealand's biggest sources of emissions in New Zealand, and has risen when many other sectors have reduced emissions.
Asked at a media stand-up if shaving 0.1m tonnes off transport with its plan to aim for 10,000 EV chargers was enough for such an important sector, Watts said New Zealanders were doing it tough and he needed to be realistic.
The plan does not include measurable reductions from other transport areas, such as increasing walking, cycling or public transport use.
EV sales plummeted after subsidies were scrapped but the Minister said people were buying clean vehicles.
"As our plan is clearly outlining, the important aspect to increase EV uptake is reducing range anxiety," Watts said, citing media reports that EV prices are plunging.
Watts said boluses (swallowed by cows and sheep) that could reduce methane burped by 75 percent and could be available "sooner than we thought."
Pressed on the plan's reliance on using methane-cutting technology that is not yet on the market, and carbon capture and storage by large fossil fuel producers, he said technology moved quickly and carbon capture techniques were already in use overseas.
"2035 is not tomorrow. 2030 is not tomorrow. You can't say where technology will be...in four years."
Watts said Genesis Energy's moves to use biomass to replace some of the coal burned at Huntly showed the private sector was acting on emissions without any Government funding.
