Norman Russel: Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Green) 
: 
 I move  
That the Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill be now read a first time. 
 This bill is a climate change bill. It is about making some small progress on reducing New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and it is about the Government providing a small amount of leadership on reducing emissions from the Government’s vehicle fleet. 
There has been a lot of misconception about climate change. One of the things that I think is the hardest for people to get their heads around is the effect of climate change in 2100 because 2100 seems a long time away. Yet if the children who have been born today—and there were lots of them—live to be 91 years old they will be alive in 2100 so the actions we take today will affect the lives of children who were born today. In fact the longevity of greenhouse emissions—in particular carbon dioxide emissions which have increased dramatically from New Zealand over the last 15 years—means that they will affect not only children born today but children born for many generations to come. 
If we do not take action now to reduce emissions both in New Zealand and globally then we will be stuck particularly with the carbon dioxide emissions for generations and generations to come. There are those who say that the cost of reducing emissions is too high. If we were to take one of the most pessimistic views about the cost of reducing emissions which would be that it might cost say 1 percent of GDP by mid-century then we need to put that in context. By mid-century the New Zealand economy might grow by say 40 percent or 42 percent of GDP. If the most pessimistic projections around the cost of climate change emissions are true it will mean that the New Zealand economy instead of growing by 42 percent of GDP by 2050 will grow by only 41 percent. That would be the cost of our taking action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions under the most pessimistic scenario of the cost of cutting emissions. 
So when people say that the cost of reducing emissions is so expensive and that it might cost say 1 percent of GDP what they mean is that instead of 42 percent per capita GDP growth by mid-century we might have only 41 percent per capita GDP growth by mid-century. In this debate about the future of the planet and about the kind of world our children—in fact the children born today—will inherit I think it is very very important that we put the costs into perspective. I think that in this debate around the emissions trading scheme and elsewhere the cost of taking action on climate change is over and over again completely exaggerated. 
The Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill is a very modest bill. It aims to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases by requiring the State sector to purchase or lease only those passenger vehicles that are energy efficient through having a better than average emissions performance of 170 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre or approximately 7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres which is the same efficiency standard that is set out in the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy of 2007 for the New Zealand fleet as a whole. Measuring fuel economy in terms of carbon dioxide rather than mileage has many advantages as it makes no prescription concerning fuel or technologies so we will stick to measuring fuel economy like that. So it is a very modest proposal whereby the State sector must purchase or lease only passenger vehicles that can reach 7 litres per 100 kilometres or 170 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. 
Transport produces 20 percent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and has been the fastest rising source. It is one of the main areas in which we can improve environmental sustainability. The bill targets the low-hanging fruit of economy-wide emissions reductions. It does not address the broader issue of the investment in roads. We have seen a kind of road obsession over the last 15 years in New Zealand as Government after Government has prioritised spending on new motorways rather than on public transport walking and cycling which would actually produce the mode shift that is required to reduce emissions. 
This bill very modestly targets one part of the vehicle fleet and the fuel efficiency of that fleet by requiring the Government to run an energy-efficient Government fleet. It seems to me to be a very modest bill. The  
Current Government Fleet and Procurement Practice  
report of 2006 found that “except for the district health boards there is significant potential to reduce vehicle size across the fleet”. The current average emissions performance is 210 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre or 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres—that is the current average emissions performance is quite poor. This bill seeks to achieve a modest 20 percent improvement in carbon dioxide emissions over time. That is a saving of approximately 22400 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum across the Government fleet of 21000 vehicles. 
This bill is a very small start but start we must. Some Government departments are already demonstrating leadership in this area. District health boards lead the way with fleets of small-engined highly efficient cars—the Toyota Echo and the Honda Jazz amongst others—to enable their staff to do their work. Other departments are not doing as much. Their fleets are full of the large-engined Ford Falcon and Nissan Maxima amongst others to achieve the same purpose—moving one person on average 40 to 80 kilometres per day. 
These significant potential emission and fuel savings do not come at the cost of flexibility in purchasing decisions. This bill is an extremely practical bill that provides specifically for exemptions for special needs. Within the bill there are exemptions for vehicles used by firefighters the ambulance service the Defence Force and the Department of Conservation. Those special-purpose vehicles will not be required to meet these fuel-efficiency standards. 
This bill targets the low-hanging fruit of emissions reductions—our vehicle fleet. It is about the Government taking small practical steps to reduce emissions which in turn will influence corporate fleet-buying decisions and ultimately private vehicle ownership. It is about creating a culture of change in our car-buying habits starting with the Government’s fleet of 21000 vehicles. 
New Zealand’s light motor vehicles use on average over 10 litres of fuel to travel 100 kilometres. That is 210 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. By comparison the EU fleet is currently at 170 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre on average and has notified a standard of 130 grams to be achieved by 2015. 
The situation in New Zealand is not getting better. Although technology is improving the vehicles coming into the country are getting bigger and their carbon emissions are increasing. New vehicles entering our country are more fuel consuming than second-hand ones which is an extraordinary fact. 
The International Energy Agency recently warned member Governments that there will be a serious oil supply crunch in 2015 and a peak in oil production around 2020 both of which will occur in the lifetime of any new vehicles purchased today. Rapidly rising oil prices are just around the corner so it makes sense to ensure that we buy the most efficient vehicles now to save the taxpayer from a fast-growing fuel bill in the future. Using the best car for the job will save taxpayers at least $30 million a year in fuel costs. 
This bill uses standards to drive efficiency gains and desirable economic outcomes without compromising the flexibility of Government departments to buy vehicles that are fit for purpose. We need to use the right combination of market signals standards and regulations to achieve the very best outcome from our market economy. We need to use vehicle efficiency standards. 
This bill is to be referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which I think is the best place for it. So far we have received support for this bill from the Labour Party and the Maori Party which I appreciate. I hope that the other parties will support this bill. It is a very small practical step towards achieving our climate change goals and towards the Government providing a small amount of leadership on climate change reduction.