Interview: Rod Carr warns Govt is falling behind on climate

Chris Hipkins and his Cabinet are reluctant to make industry emitters and drivers share the pain of climate policy, repeatedly opting for policy options that prioritise lower fuel costs over emissions reductions and avoiding moves that might prompt industrial emitters to cut jobs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images

TL;DR: Next week the Climate Commission will unveil its draft advice for Aotearoa’s 2026-30 emissions budget. Chair Rod Carr tells me in the interview above for both free and paying subscribers the Government is falling behind after rejecting the Commission’s advice on the Emissions Trading Scheme, bringing agriculture into the ETS and using pine forests as carbon sinks. He says time is running out.

PM Chris Hipkins’ Cabinet has repeatedly opted for climate policy options that prioritise lower fuel costs over further emissions reductions and avoids any moves that might prompt industrial emitters to cut jobs. Hipkins defended the Government’s approach in answer to my questions at a news conference yesterday, saying the Government planned new policies to get back on track. Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods also said Aotearoa needed to meet its emissions targets without de-industrialising. Here’s the exchanges from the news conference:

For paying subscribers below, there is a lightly edited transcript of the key sections of the interview with Rod Carr.

‘We gave advice. They chose to do it differently’