24 March 2020 15 Endeavour St
Nelson South
Simon Upton Nelson 7010
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Wellington
New Zealand
Dear Simon,
The video clip of your 1st report to Parliament emphasises the long-term nature of the need for planning and the link to a bi-partisan approach to New Zealand’s Environmental Plan.
May I share a major concern and then move directly to a suggestion for a legislative initiative that would cement your intent in the House?
Figures released following the Global Financial Crisis confirmed a temporary reduction in the production of Climate Change gases. This was hardly a surprise as human-based activity, GDP being an economic measure of this, is positively correlated to CO2 emissions. In late March 2020, we are in the early stages of the global Covid-19 pandemic which is having a profound effect on global economic activity, with tourism, air travel and human movement being the most obvious economic casualties. Once again, the link between GDP growth (and reduction) and the rise (or fall) of damaging emissions, will be demonstrated very clearly.
Yet there is a globally established pattern of economic management that has GDP Growth as its central goal with the level of GDP growth achieved as the key metric by which governments expect to be judged.
Taken together, the preceding two paragraphs make a nonsense of the Paris Accord. But I believe very strongly that New Zealand can and should show leadership on this issue.
New Zealand needs an “Environment First Bill” which places New Zealand’s commitment to the Paris Accord at the centre of policy formation, ranking on the statute books alongside the Reserve Bank Act. The Environment First Act dictates that no economic policy can incur risk of conflict with our climate change obligations per the Paris Accord. GDP Growth may still be pursued, but subject to New Zealand’s emissions reducing, not increasing.
An example of our current folly is our net rate of inward migration. The NZIER published a paper (Insight 44 – Migration. Feb 2014) noting that should the Government of the day increase the net immigration target from 10,000 to 20,000 per year to 20,000 to 40,000 per year, this would result in an increase in GDP per capita of $410 per year. John Key’s Government grabbed it with both hands. Subsequently, right up until we closed our borders, our net immigration rate was approximately 1.5% of the population. Unless the Commissioner can argue that somehow, human activity in New Zealand is not positively correlated to emissions, New Zealand needs to reduce its emissions per head by 1.5% per annum just to stand still. In short, migration policy needs to be subject to The Environment First Act.
Allowing national, industry and individual greed to go unchallenged courtesy of the licence of “being good for a growing economy” is not the correct pathway forwards. NZ’s Tourism sector is a shining example of this demonstrating a belief that NZ can and should accommodate an ever-increasing number of overseas tourists. The fossil fuel cost of their journey to get here and then travel around here is wholly incompatible with the Paris Accord. Limiting the number of tourist visas is another example of a policy that would derive from The Environment First Act.
With the latest data demonstrating that the Greenland and Antarctic ice is melting six times faster than in the 1990s, it is tracking the worst-case climate warming scenario set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This shouts out for a total shift in attitude away from quantity of GDP growth to quality of activity subject to achieving emissions reduction. And we need to bring this shift about now with an investment in core legislation that offers our grandchildren hope for a survivable planet.
The Carbon Zero Act is a positive initiative yes, but to achieve this country’s goals and demonstrate to other countries how to do it, we need to place a non-negotiable obligation on the statute books, ranking at the top and dominating economic management.
Thank you for reading this far. I look forward to any reaction you may care to share.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Thompson