New Zealand welcomes international energy report on climate change

The New Zealand government on Tuesday welcomed an international report that says a peak in global energy-related emissions could be reached as early as 2020 - - although critics said the government had no plan to achieve a cut in emissions.

The report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) said world greenhouse gas emissions from energy production and use were double the level of greenhouse gas emissions from all other sources, and it suggested strategies to reduce them.

"New Zealand is a leader in renewable energy production, with around 80 percent of New Zealand's electricity produced from renewable sources, the fourth highest in the world. We are well placed to take advantage of low carbon technologies," Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said in a statement.

"But we can't afford to be complacent. For New Zealand to transition to a low emissions economy, we have further work to do to tackle emissions from energy, including transport. Our world- class geothermal energy and wind resources, greater use of natural gas and bioenergy, as well as increasing public transport use, are all part of the solution."

One of the recommendations of the report was to gradually phase out of fossil fuel subsidies to end-users by 2030.

Climate Change Issues Minister Tim Groser, a special adviser on climate change to the International Energy Agency, earlier this year led a coalition of governments calling for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies for environmental, economic and social reasons.

"More than one third of global carbon emissions between 1980 and 2010 are estimated to have been driven by subsidies for fossil fuels. New Zealand is playing an important role to encourage countries to reform fossil fuel subsidies," Groser said in the statement.

Groser said New Zealand wanted to set a target on emissions that was environmentally credible and reflected its national circumstances ahead of the global climate change talks in Paris, where a new climate change agreement is expected to be established in December.

The opposition Green Party said the report had some useful pointers to reduce fossil fuel burning and end fossil fuel subsidies that the government must act on.

"The government needs a plan to move closer to 100 percent renewable energy generation, because we've recently dropped back below 80 percent renewable generation," Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth Hughes said in a statement.

"The IEA report calls for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and while the government is working internationally to build support for this, it needs to show it's serious by immediately ending subsidies to the coal and oil industries back home in New Zealand. " Endi