Scientists outline measures to cut New Zealand's growing GHG emissions

Pressure mounted Wednesday on the New Zealand government to produce a plan to counter climate change after a panel of leading scientists issued a report stating that the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are rising.

A report titled "Transition to a low-carbon economy for New Zealand" from the Royal Society of New Zealand called for ambitious action from all New Zealanders to help mitigate climate change.

The report said New Zealand's gross GHG emissions per capita were "well above average for developed countries" and continuing to increase.

The main sources of the country's CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions were from heat and electricity supply, transport fuels, cement manufacture and forest harvesting, but agriculture accounted for about half of gross GHG emissions with an unusually large proportion of methane and nitrous oxide.

"Many mitigation options are already well-understood and achievable. They often also have flow-on benefits. Business-as-usual approaches will not get us where we need to be, ambitious action is needed now by all New Zealanders," said Professor Ralph Sims, chairman of the panel that wrote the report.

The report outlines opportunities to reduce emissions, including reducing fossil fuel use, increasing renewable electricity, using low carbon transport, improving energy efficiency, considering trade-offs in agriculture and planting forests.

"Today, around half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions arise from burning coal, oil and gas for electricity, industrial heat processes, transport and everyday activities in homes and commercial buildings and can be reduced starting immediately," Professor Sims says.

Significantly reducing agricultural emissions would be challenging without reducing human reliance on animal protein production from meat and milk, but emissions could be reduced with measures such as selectively breeding cattle and sheep, and adjusting rumen biology to reduce emissions.

The report made it clear that the current approach of the government -- which has been widely criticized for lacking any plan to reduce emissions -- was inadequate, said the main opposition Labour Party.

"It's also wonderful to see a report that talks about the savings and benefits that a low-carbon economy will bring. This is a great counterpoint to the government's increasingly arrogant and outdated rhetoric about the costs of tackling climate change," Labour spokesperson on climate change Megan Woods said in a statement.

The opposition Green Party said the report showed the government's "economic strategy of more intensive dairying, more oil, and more roads is not compatible with a safe climate future."

"The government should be investing for the future in the high-value, clean-tech economy rather than in sunset industries like offshore oil and gas," Green Party co-leader James Shaw said in a statement.

Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett, who signed the Paris Agreement at the United Nations in New York last week, reiterated at the time that New Zealand's 2030 target was to reduce emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels. Endit