Coalition’s climate plan failing to meet both Zero Carbon and Paris targets

TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning are:

1. Chris Penk is set to roll back building standards for insulation that had only just been put in place, and which had been estimated to save 40% from power costs, after builders told him it increased building costs.

2. Simon Watts unveiled the Government’s long-awaited Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), which shows the Coalition’s policies are forecast to increase net emissions by 22 million tonnes by 2030, which means the Government is set to fail to meet the third Zero Carbon Act Budget for 2030-35 and miss the net zero target for 2050. The Paris Agreement liability is estimated at 97 million tonnes (mt), which Treasury has estimated could cost up to $24 billion to ensure New Zealand can keep exporting to Europe and the UK.

3. In solutions news, Copenhagen estimates almost a euro of net societal benefits for every kilometer cycled instead of driven, which has driven a surge in cycling investment and powered the creation this week of a ‘CopenPay’ scheme to pay tourists perks when they cycle and use buses and trains instead of cars and planes.

4. Real estate agents make commissions annually of about $1.6 billion. We really do have an economy that is a housing market with bits tacked on.

5. Community groups say the housing crisis is creating the worst homelessness they’ve ever seen.

6. A US study has found insurance costs are set to rise 600-800% in coming years because of increased damage from storms and sea-level change caused by climate change.

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Top Six Things to note on July 17:

1. Climate & health costs ignored again in insulation rollback

Penk set to move back to old insulation standards to lower building costs