Election special: A voter's guide to the big green issues

*All parties except Mana and United Future responded.

Climate change: ready or not?

This is the big one. The debate over climate change is pretty much over, with everyone from the US government down accepting that climate change is not only real and caused by humans – it’s happening now.

Over the coming years it’s likely that wet areas will get wetter and dry areas drier – with more flooding, droughts and fires. Climate change will also make parts of the country habitable for new pest species, affect our agricultural industries, and put coastal communities at risk from rising sea levels and more intense storms.

There are strong arguments that New Zealand is not doing enough to prepare for these changes, nor to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the engine driving them. The Ministry for the Environment’s projections suggest if we continue as we are, by 2030 our net emissions will rise to 160 per cent above 1990 levels (almost double 2011 levels). Our Government has decided to not recommit to the Kyoto Protocol, arguing there’s no point as long as top global emitters such as China refuse to join.

What the parties say

National: Reaffirm unconditional commitment to cut emissions to 5 per cent below 1990 levels for the period 2013-2020; conditional targets of 10-20 per cent by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2050. Continue working towards a binding international agreement accounting for 85 per cent of global emissions, and towards 90 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2025. Pledged $80 million in climate-related support to the Pacific over the next three years.

Labour: Will recommit to Kyoto, restrict cheap international units which have collapsed our carbon price and require transparency for consumers in carbon charging.

Greens: Will build a fully renewable electricity generation system (incentives for solar, set up ‘NZ Power’, allowing smaller schemes to enter the market, and setting a fair price for surplus household generation). Will ensure a “fair and meaningful” price on carbon for all emitters, including farmers. Will phase out coal and not open any more coal mines; support forestry; make major investments in public transport, walking and cycling. Will give councils a mandate and base parameters to plan for extreme weather events and rising sea levels; and create a National Policy Statement under the RMA on climate adaption. Will work with farmers on how to reduce emissions.

ACT: Insufficient evidence that human-induced climate change significant/rapid enough to justify placing any extra costs on NZ families; policies to allow adaption by private sector.

Maori Party: Will meet or exceed requirements of international agreements, strengthen ETS and extend to all polluters, and investigate a carbon tax.

Dairying and dirty rivers: stink or swim?

Our waterways are in crisis. A third of our lakes are unhealthy and two-thirds of freshwater fish are at risk. Intensification of dairy farming, particularly dairy conversions from forestry, is driving an explosion in freshwater pollution (lesser causes are urban development and other land uses).

Increasingly farmers are adopting more sustainable farming methods. Yet the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warns that even if these efforts work, the rate at which land is being converted to dairying will cause continued freshwater decline. Nor will proposed new national freshwater quality standards stop this, she says. Their bottom lines are too low, requiring that many rivers only be safe to wade or boat through, but not to swim in.

What the parties say

National: Will implement new freshwater quality standards and continue investing in research to tackle farming’s environmental impacts.

Labour: Will create a water portfolio and return to the Sheppard National Water Policy statement. Clean rivers will not be allowed to get dirty; dirty rivers will be cleaned up over a generation. Increases in cow numbers and effluent/fertiliser will be controlled. Will work with rural communities to ensure appropriate water storage and management to buttress farmers from droughts.

Greens: Will implement much stronger freshwater standards, with targets to ensure polluted waterways unsafe for swimming are eventually restored to health.

NZ First: Will require council, industry and other stakeholders to develop specific, achievable water quality targets and measures.

ACT: Water quality standards will be set locally by communities, who will bear compliance costs. Freshwater will be allocated via a system of well-defined property rights based on long-term tradeable permits.

Deep-sea oil: a dying game?

Last year our oil industry paid $750 million in taxes and royalties, and it currently supports 7700 high-paid jobs. But with our shallow-water wells drying up, the government has turned to more-risky deep-sea exploration – and has supported the industry by rushing through a heavily criticised law prohibiting protest at sea, and retracting the public’s right to formally oppose deep-sea drilling.

The risk of a spill happening is unclear: 0.25 per cent (or 2.5 ‘loss of control’ incidents per 1000 wells) according to Energy and Resources minister Simon Bridges; 30 per cent risk over an oil platform’s lifetime at this depth according to Greenpeace.

All agree, however, that we couldn’t clean up a major spill, and the damage would be monumental.

What the parties say

National: Will continue courting major international firms to invest in petroleum exploration and development here; requiring them to demonstrate that they meet New Zealand’s health and safety and environmental requirements.

Labour: Will insist on world’s best practice environmental protections and ensure we have the capacity to respond should something go wrong. Fair dividends returned to the taxpayer.

Greens: Will ban deep-sea oil drilling.

NZ First: Will allow oil drilling that’s economically beneficial to New Zealand, subject to more stringent environmental safeguards.

ACT: Will require drillers to fully restore environment in the event of any impact.

Maori Party: Oil drilling in a tribal area is primarily a matter for the local iwi to decide; would facilitate all iwi reaching a consensus on deep-sea drilling.

Christchurch rebuild: beyond double-glazing?

Despite winning an international award for sustainable urban regeneration, the rebuild plans may yet prove to lack the overarching vision, carrots and sticks needed to move Christchurch beyond the mediocre greenness of insulation and double-glazing.

Sustainability ranked high on the people’s wish-list following the February 2011 earthquake, and the city council’s earliest CBD rebuild plan reflected that. The second blueprint, by government agency CERA, dropped much of the green-themed detail, targets and incentives – a mandatory green commercial building standard became voluntary, for example – setting the tone for subsequent planning.

There are bright spots though, such as smart schemes to divert surplus heat from one building/facility to another nearby (from supermarket chillers to a pool, for example); “Breathe”, a green urban village under development; and an affordable, sustainable housing scheme by green growth not-for-profit Pure Advantage and Kiwibank.

What the parties say

National: Housing New Zealand is considering highly sustainable ‘exemplar’ housing projects and will continue rebuilding all housing with full insulation, improved heating, ventilation and weather tightness. High dumping costs encouraging contractors to reuse and recycle salvaged materials. Recovery plan prioritises certain roads for walking and cycling. Will build a new $53 million Bus Interchange. ‘Sensing City’ project is embedding sensors in physical infrastructure, allowing monitoring of such things as air pollution.

Labour: Will build 10,000 homes, review the Earthquake Commission and coverage, address red-zone unfairness and work to protect remaining heritage buildings.

Greens: Will support sustainable design and construction (eg. $1 million towards the first 10-storey or higher building constructed with structural timber); more money for cycleways and public transport and social housing; renegotiate cost-sharing arrangement between Government and council; support medium-density brownfield development over sprawl. Will offer to purchase houses in flood-prone “blue zone” and require all councils to plan for climate change.

ACT: No centralised control: rebuild design features up to private developers and end users.

Sustainable fishing: the catch

New Zealand’s ingenious Quota Management System (QMS), designed to protect our stocks from overfishing, is internationally acclaimed. However, it has two weaknesses: 1) fishing limits, or “quota”, are based on educated guesses about stock levels, and critics say the margin for error is dangerously large. For the critically endangered longfin eel, for example, the QMS is clearly not working – there are so few left commercial fishers can’t even reach quota. And snapper stocks in some areas are dangerously low.

The second major issue is bycatch, where other fish species, sea animals and birds are accidentally killed or maimed by commercial trawling. There’s evidence suggesting bycatch numbers are systematically underreported.

By year’s end, the Government will have created 11 marine reserves since 2011. However, conservation groups such as Forest & Bird say current reserves, all inside the 12 nautical mile territorial limit, need to be extended into ‘ocean sanctuaries’ to protect deep-sea dwellers such as whales, tuna and seabirds.

What the parties say

National: Will continue implementing new rules for Snapper 1 area (roughly north east of the North Island’s top half) such as a maximum size for long-line fishers; requiring commercial fishers to report all undersized catch and ‘move on’ from spots with lots of young fish; trialling cameras to measure and record fish returned to sea; tagging snapper (a joint project with fishing industry) and monitoring systems on all commercial boats (cameras or observers will be on all trawlers by October). Will continue funding, with industry, development of harvesting technology for landing fish live on boats. Will implement soon-to-be announced measures to save the longfin eel.

Labour: Will put the interests of recreational fishers first in preserving snapper fishery.

Greens: Will move to an integrated fisheries management system, which factors the effects of fishing on the ecosystem rather than managing each stock separately (allocation still through QMS). Will prohibit damaging fishing methods and expand marine reserves.

ACT: Will continue current system.

Maori Party: Will use the QMS to allocate quota to customary, recreational and commercial fishers in that order. Will extend moratorium on commercial fishing for longfin eel.

Conservation: Call the DoC

The Department of Conservation (DoC) has extraordinary responsibilities. Among its statutory duties: managing 8.8 million hectares of land (roughly one third of the country); preserving “as far as practicable” all indigenous freshwater fisheries and habitats; and advocating conservation of natural and historic resources. DoC also works on the ground to protect endangered plants and animals – we have 2700 ‘at risk’ native species.

However, opposition parties and conservation groups argue DoC’s efficacy has been undermined by staff cuts under restructuring designed to attract more funding from business. They say DoC is being forced to rely on commercial partnerships to do its core work – e.g. Dulux to paint huts, Fonterra to help protect catchments in five sensitive water bodies.

The risks include unreliability (businesses may drop funding in tight times); a preference for causes that make for great advertising campaigns, rather than less glamorous/cute but equally pressing work; and a piecemeal approach to the essentially holistic issue of protecting biodiversity. Conservation minister Nick Smith defends the changes: “The conservation challenge requires we also tap private and community support.”

What the parties say

National: No change. Welcomes the new privately-backed $100 million NEXT foundation that will fund environmental and education projects.

Labour: Will ensure DoC can perform advocacy role and restore funding cut from the provinces.

Greens: Will significantly increase DoC’s funding and through its statement of intent encourage it to make submissions on conservation -related major resource consents and regional/district plans.

NZ First: Will increase funding.

ACT: Will move towards having private businesses compete to fund and manage government-designated conservation land.

Cleantech: let’s get wealthy

A new business sector is developing around the world, and a growing number of people say we’d be bonkers not to get involved. The cleantech industry is about high-performance products and services with reduced costs, raw materials, energy consumption and waste streams – and New Zealand’s renewable energy systems and expertise, notably hydropower, give us an enviable edge. Geothermal energy, ocean energy and biofuels are other promising areas.

Our potential share of the estimated $5.8 trillion-plus global market could be between $7.5 billion and $22 billion annually according to a 2009 PriceWaterhouseCoopers projection (for comparison dairy, our top export industry, was worth around $16.7 billion over the past financial year). Another study done in 2007 for NZ Trade and Enterprise concluded we could create a high-value, low-carbon $150 billion export economy by 2025.

In a March Royal Society report, scientists made a convincing case that shifting quickly to a green economy would make us wealthier and healthier, as well as protecting our environment. What’s needed, they conclude, is strong leadership from government at all levels, as well as industry buy-in. Also needed: much more government investment in cleantech, rather than the current focus on mining, oil and gas.

What the parties say

National: Reaffirm target of 90 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2025 and funding of power grid study ($6 million) to that end; $48.75 million already committed to research advanced biofuels and $6 million to research on electricity grid.

Labour: Will support developing alternatives to fossil fuel (details to be announced).

Greens: Will drop subsidies to oil and gas companies, boost funding for cleantech R&D; green government procurement and certification processes to strengthen the market, and set clear, strong national environmental standards around water and carbon emissions to drive innovation and productivity.

ACT: No government investment – that’s private sector’s role – but red-tape cutting will free up innovation.

Maori Party: Will adopt a ‘Genuine Progress Index’ to measure national progress against economic, social, cultural and environmental criteria, which would explicitly recognise the broader benefits of cleantech.

RMA: a reform too far?

One of the most boring – yet vital – green issues in New Zealand. The Resource Management Act (RMA) provides a legal framework for decisions on the use of private and public land and water, balancing protection of the environment and economic development via the resource consent system.

The Government says the Act needs to be reformed because the resource consent process has become too uncertain and cumbersome, costing residents, businesses and councils, and slowingthe building of badly needed housing.

However critics of the Government’s proposed reforms say it could be streamlined without tilting it too far in favour of economic development. They point out that of the 34,055 resource consent applications processed to a decision in the 2012/2013 financial year, only 0.27 per cent were declined, 0.7 per cent were appealed to the Environment Court, and 97 per cent were processed on time.

What the parties say

National: Will see through reform.

Labour: Will repeal any changes to sections 6 and 7, and streamline processes while protecting founding principles.

Greens: Will repeal significant parts of National’s changes to RMA and provide environment-related national policies and standards to guide councils.

ACT: Will abolish the RMA: environmental protection through case-by-case approach to addressing problems in the common law rather than umbrella legislation.

Maori Party: Will repeal any changes that undermine environmental protections and ensure tangata whenua involvement in resource management decision-making at every level.

Auckland: bigger and better?

Auckland will grow by a million people over the next 30 years, needing 400,000 new homes. But how sustainably will it grow?

Two big issues are rail, plus sprawl vs intensification: ie. will Auckland grow out, or up?

After many objections, the Government agreed to stump up half of the $2.86 billion cost for a central rail link (CRL), with Auckland council covering the rest. The missing link in Auckland’s network, the CRL is a huge step forward for Auckland’s sustainable economic growth. It will double trains on the network, easing congestion and pollution (road transport accounts for 40 per cent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, and electrification of commuter trains will further lower emissions). The Auckland Council and mayor want construction to start 2015/16, however the government maintains passenger demand won’t justify its outlay until 2020.

Meanwhile, the drearily named ‘Unitary Plan’ is Auckland’s new planning and building rule book that will determine the supercity’s future shape. Its authors had a ‘green’ vision of going up before out – however, opposition by resident groups to intensification (such as apartments, terraced housing, etc) compelled a lowering of density thresholds. Meanwhile, the Government and Council created a fast-track for building in so-called ‘special housing areas’, in order to bring down house prices. So far, many of these areas lie on the city’s fringes.

What the parties say

National: Will continue its mix of brownfield and greenfield development. (Intensive development policies can drive up housing prices: properly designed surburbs on Auckland’s fringe are no more carbon-intensive than intensive inner-city suburbs.)

Labour: Will start building the City Rail Link immediately, funding it 50:50 with the Auckland Council. Supports in principle fast-tracking the Unitary Plan.

Greens: Will start building the City Rail Link 2015, funding it 60:40 with the Auckland Council, and investigate other ways for the Council to pay its share (rather than out of rates). Will facilitate brownfield development by removing costly planning restrictions.

NZ First: Will increase funding of public transport. Will slow influx of newcomers to the city.

ACT: Will drop urban limits for all cities and towns; land owners, developers and buyers should pay for new roads and other infrastructure.

Maori Party: Will take cue from tangata whenua (Maori Party drove the establishment of Auckland’s independent Maori Statutory Board).

Questions for your local MP

• What do you see as the biggest environmental/sustainability issues in this electorate?
• Do you accept that climate change is being dangerously accelerated by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities?
• Who’s your eco hero, or your favourite eco movement or product?

September 20 is election day: don’t forget to vote! Make sure you're registered at enrol.elections.org.nz