Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, October 25:
Scoop of the day: Oliver Lewis reported for BusinessDesk-$$$ this morning that Transport Minister Simeon Brown ordered construction to start on the four-lane Hawkes Bay Expressway before the completion of a business case.
Deep-dive of the day: Marc Daalder reported for Newsroom yesterday that Spanish offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy is cancelling plans for wind farms off the coast of Taranaki and Waikato, citing the Government’s decision to choose a seabed mining proposal in the same area for the fast-track consenting.
Solutions item of the day: Solar panel, electric battery and EV adoption has been exponentially faster in the rest of the world than even the most positive forecasts.
Number of the day: The United Nations Environment Programme issued its annual climate emissions gap report overnight showing global temperatures will rise 2.6-3.1°C by 2100 unless emissions are cut 42% in the next six years.
Quote of the day: The UNEP’s executive director said ‘Crunch time is here’ for the climate.
Chart of the day: The UNEP report includes a chart showing which countries are off track to meet their Paris Agreement targets for climate emissions reduction.
(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing.)
‘Ready…fire…aim’
Brown orders motorway building to start before business case back
Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the enabling works had already started on the Hawkes Bay Expressway on Monday, but has confirmed to BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver Lewis the green light was given before any business case was written.
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