Open letter to Energy and Resources spokespeople
Dear Energy and Resources spokespeople across the political spectrum
Thank you for addressing us at our Energy and Resources Pre-election Panel event on the 26th of July. We heard about the importance of our energy system and mineral resources to support the wellbeing, productivity, and lifestyles of all New Zealanders, regardless of their aspiration.
Following this event, we present to you our ten-point priority plan on the regulatory and policy environment needed to unlock our country’s social, economic, and environmental wellbeing through energy:
- Deliver clear and enduring policy settings. The sector needs stable, simple, well-signalled and durable policy settings across electoral cycles. Unclear, short-term policy settings make it harder to bring more energy and resources online and make decarbonisation investments.
- Embed the ‘Energy Trilemma’ as the organising principle against which energy policies can be assessed. Every sector participant wants to provide energy to consumers that is affordable, reliable, and sustainable, so it can be used productively throughout the economy.
- Use the right policy portfolio and tools for the right problem. While inevitably overlapping, energy and resources policy and climate change policies have different objectives and problems that require careful analysis and trade-offs to be made.
- Ensure there is confidence in a complete and robust Emissions Trading Scheme, and let it do the heavy lifting to meet our net zero emissions goal.
- Build the resilience of New Zealand’s energy system. A resilient energy system is one with diverse energy types, fuels and locations. The more options we have, the more resilience, the lower emissions, and lower costs we are likely to face.
- Encourage competition for competitive prices and customer-centric innovations, rather than heavy-handed regulations. Energy is a means to an end. It is a vital input into a vibrant, productive economy.
- Ensure we have a planning and resource management system that enables energy generation and mineral assets and other infrastructure to be built in the right place at the right time for the least cost.
- Stop eliminating options from our energy system. Enable and advance all options for low emissions energy technologies and fuels in New Zealand. Carbon capture and renewable gases, biomass and biofuels can all reduce hard-to-abate emissions. Ensure that regulatory settings allow them to flourish.
- Recognise the important role that New Zealand’s domestic mineral resources will have in our low-emissions future. Unlock access to our precious and other metals that are so vital to low emissions technology.
- Upskill our workforce to equip them for the energy sector of the future.
Sincerely,
BusinessNZ Energy Council
Electricity Networks Aotearoa
Electricity Retailers’ Association of New Zealand
Energy Resources Aotearoa
GasNZ
Major Electricity Users’ Group
Straterra
Young Energy Professionals Network