Source: Greenpeace
The NZ Government has been forced today to reinstate a scheme to support businesses transitioning off fossil gas.
“This is a major admission by the Government that the fairytale they have been telling the country, that there is more fossil gas, was always nonsense,” says Dr Russel Norman, Greenpeace Aotearoa Executive Director.
“As the OECD and Greenpeace have been saying – New Zealand’s energy future is in renewable electricity generation, storage, and demand-side management, not fossil gas. Renewables are more reliable, more affordable, and more sustainable than fossil fuels.
“The current Government’s head-in-the-sand approach to energy policy has cost the nation two years of delay, when we should have been accelerating the transition away from fossil gas.
“Industry should be angry with a Government that has delayed the transition for so long, costing New Zealanders jobs and money.
“The Government has repeated the lie that the current shortage in fossil gas is due to the decision to stop issuing new oil and gas exploration permits. In fact the delay between issuing permits and getting gas into production, if any was ever found, was more than a decade.
“It's time to stop the Government’s $200m subsidy to fossil gas exploration and the multi-billion subsidy to the LNG import facility. If fossil gas can’t compete in the market then why should taxpayers subsidise it?
“The key risk to the Government’s fiscal position now is if Nicola Willis and Shane Jones sign up to underwriting the decommissioning of old gas fields. This could cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and must be the responsibility of the oil and gas companies who took all the profits.”