Watering down emissions rules may cost $680 million

The Transport Minister is trying to push through urgent legislation that would allow him to change emissions standards for car imports without approval from Parliament, after only consulting car importers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson

TL;DR: Just as two major reports showed fossil fuel burning was warming the planet to dangerous levels and was already inflating costs of living, Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is pushing ahead quietly with plans to water down emissions reduction rules for car imports.

This move and the already-banned Clean Car Discount scheme could increase Aotearoa-NZ’s climate emissions by 30 million tonnes by 2030, which could cost taxpayers $680 million extra to buy emissions credits overseas, or risk the nation reneging on our Paris climate agreements in a way that would lock our farmers’ exports out of the European and UK markets.

Brown’s latest moves came as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called overnight for a ban on advertising by fossil fuel companies, who he described as the “Godfathers of climate chaos.” Last week Edinburgh Council banned billboard advertising in the city for ‘high carbon products’, including SUVs, flights and cruises.¹

Meanwhile, it’s emerged two more National election promises made on health spending and worker pay were broken in Budget 2024, while a promise to build a full-scale hospital in Dunedin is also on shaky ground.

In good news, new social homes were opened in Dunedin last night and Precinct Properties is planning to invest heavily in building apartments in Auckland.

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Six things of note this morning

1. Simeon Brown set to wreck car emissions rules too