Sage EugenieSPECIAL DEBATESEmissions Budgets Published in 2022 and First Emissions Reduction Plan—Report of Environment CommitteeHon EUGENIE SAGE (Chairperson of the Environment Committee): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. I move That the House take note of the Environment Committee's report on the Emissions budgets published in 2022 and the first emissions reduction plan. Any debate and discussion on how we best protect the planet and the future of humanity by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius is timely especially this week with COP27 happening in Egypt and I'm pleased to speak to and introduce the Environment Committee's report. The committee was tasked with examining the emissions budgets by the Standing Orders. We also decided to examine the emissions reduction plan (ERP) as it provides a basis for the emissions budgets for the 2022 to 2025 2026 to 2030 and 2031 to 2035 periods. We did that examination over five months and as always public submissions were important. I acknowledge the 64 individuals and organisations who made submissions and those we heard from in person. Can I also thank on behalf of the committee our two independent advisers Matthew Cowie and Andrew McMillan and the Ministry for the Environment (MFE) for the advice that they provided. I'd also like to acknowledge the work of officials across the public sector in developing the emissions reduction plan and the contribution which the Productivity Commission and the Climate Change Commission made to that. I also thank the secretariat for the select committee who do a lot of work to ensure that our discussions are here in clear and cogent reports and that 35-page report is I think a useful summary of the framework for climate action in Aotearoa New Zealand the role of emissions budgets as steps towards our two key 2050 targets of getting a 24 to 47 percent reduction in biogenic methane emissions by 2050 and of having net zero emissions for all other greenhouse gases. It also provides a summary of how the emissions trading scheme (ETS) works and some of the issues in sectors such as agriculture transport energy and waste which are all major sources of emissions. The committee's examination is I think part of an iterative process. It will contribute to the development we hope of the next emissions budgets and the next emissions reduction plan and we certainly identified areas where there could be more attention by agencies. Just speaking briefly on a couple of the themes in the report one was about empowering Māori because submitters sought more information about the Māori climate platform to support communications to Māori communities so that they are able to better plan and respond to climate change and ensure that there was a Māori lens across Government's response to reducing emissions and also to embed that whole Māori-Crown partnership Te Tiriti principles and representation of Te Ao Māori across the Government's climate policy. One of the other key themes was the need for an equitable response and for fully informed public participation in policy development and the need to ensure that our climate policies benefit disadvantaged communities whether that's in urban development or transport—ensuring that people with disability have better access to urban areas and to public transport for example. MFE said that one of the critical actions here around public information is potentially the establishment of a climate information centre as a source of trusted advice to the public. There was quite a bit of discussion about the role of cost-benefit analysis: the recognition that that happens as part of the Budget process but it doesn't always happen on other policies. The committee highlighted the need to ensure as the emissions reduction plan actions are implemented how we best assess how effective they are in reducing emissions and how we can help shift people to a low-emissions economy and relative value for money. We need a well-coordinated wide range of climate policies alongside the ETS in order to reduce emissions and there was discussion in the report too of additionality or what additional effect do policies have in reducing emissions. The committee considered that this was a key part of the future ERPs and the policy debate around those looking at that issue of additionality. If I can now speak as a Green MP rather than as chair of the select committee there is no doubt that the emissions reduction plan with its 300 actions is a landmark document. It builds on the Green Party's work in Government. It's a blueprint to cut climate pollution in a way that makes life better for everyone that protects nature and that improves our communities but the pace of change is too slow. As the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said recently—and I quote—We are in the fight of our lives. And we are losing." Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing global temperatures keep rising and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that make climate chaos irreversible. We need more clean energy we need faster and more substantial cuts to agricultural pollution and transport pollution and we need more public transport safer options to get around our cities and towns on bike and by walking a thriving natural environment and the creation of thousands of new jobs and yet at the very moment we need to accelerate efforts to build this better future the National Party cannot even get its U-turns right on climate policy. When they go from not being able to correctly tell people which climate policy they're going to rip up today—because for the first time ever we have a clear plan to cut climate pollution which is being paid for by polluters and it's only happened because we've got a Green climate change Minister working alongside Labour colleagues. With the clock ticking the worst possible outcome that I can imagine from the election next year is a National-ACT Government because people want a secure future they want a habitable planet they want clean renewable energy they want warm dry homes and they want healthy nature. People want a Government that will do everything possible to safeguard their and their children's future and to ensure that we have a fair and equal society which is exactly why we need more Green voices in Parliament and more Green voices in Government pushing for more climate action that puts people and planet ahead of tax cuts and ahead of oil company profits. As the United Nations Secretary-General has said—and I quote—"We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator." We need to accelerate our efforts to cut emissions in order to shift to that zero-carbon world—not obfuscation and delay. There are often people including some of the submitters who seek delay. But as Dr Rod Carr has so pertinently said when people seek to delay by claiming that New Zealand's contribution is too small to make a difference because our emissions contribute 0.17 percent of the world's total gross emissions—what he says is and I quote—"Every tonne emitted whether it is from New Zealand or China is seen by the planet as the same tonne." So the action we take here in Aotearoa to reduce our emissions through implementing the emissions reduction plan is absolutely critical. By taking action to reduce emissions to protect the planet we can also tackle the cost of living crisis because if we invest in public transport and if we invest in easier ways to get around our cities—as the emissions reduction plan sets out a road map for—we also reduce the impact of increasing prices of petrol from the war in Ukraine. We also reduce those costs of living pressures on households. If we invest in clean renewable energy and in insulating homes we reduce energy poverty and we tackle the cost of living impacts there as well. So this report canvasses some of those issues around the energy sector and the agricultural sector and the efforts the Government is taking in the waste sector to reduce climate pollution. It is a plan for action. Submitters highlighted the need for Government to support action by individuals and the report is a really good resource for anyone wanting to get a summary overview of action to protect the planet. Kia ora."