When it comes to making changes to help ‘‘save’’ the planet and ensure future generations also have a fulfilling existence, we are reminded of the old expression of how long it takes to turn around an oil tanker — though that’s perhaps not the most appropriate comparison, given events in the Middle East and the fossil fuel the ships are carrying.
It can take up to half an hour for a large tanker to do a U-turn across about 5km of space. Encouraging meaningful buy-in from the majority of people towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions to halt rising global temperatures is also ponderously slow, and not just a matter of taking years but many decades.
That mindset transformation is even more difficult when you have a government like ours that has actively set out to undermine most advances made in the climate change sector in the few years.
The latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory released by the Ministry for the Environment on Thursday is another poor showing by New Zealand Inc.
RNZ reports that when forest and other carbon sinks are accounted for, those net emissions fell 2% from 56 million to 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent gases.
Dairy cattle were the biggest emitters at 26% of the total, followed by transport at 18%.
According to the ministry, low hydro-lake levels in the winter of 2024 forced more fossil fuels to be burnt for electricity, which were responsible for the largest increase in emissions. That was partially offset by slowed or stopped production in the manufacturing and construction sector.
Perhaps we should be celebrating that 0.1% drop in emissions?
However, as former climate commissioner James Renwick said, that figure needs to be more like 10% if we want to remain aligned with our obligations to the Paris agreement to keep global temperature rise below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Prof Renwick is one of a group of scientists who view the fuel crisis as the blunt instrument which will force change. They say it is the right time to cut emissions through adopting greener energy alternatives, such as rooftop solar power and electrified public transport.
University of Canterbury climate scientist Laura Revell highlights what many of us have been thinking, that the choke on oil supplies coming through the Strait of Hormuz finally provides a strong signal that it is time to take stock, use fossil fuels more efficiently and cut consumption of them, and instead do more to promote electric vehicles.
If it seems a trifle harsh to use a war to promote EVs, the reality is we appear to need such strong economic means to force change.
Sea-level rise, and the damage from flooding accompanying every supercharged storm system, is only now starting to make individuals and communities question whether beach-front properties and subdivisions are a good idea.
The fact that in future insurance companies may not provide cover for those houses is another blunt instrument which, tough as it might seem, will accelerate smart thinking to retreat further from the water’s edge.
If we won’t do these things voluntarily, science, economics and the global situation mean we will end up doing them anyway.
Science sector gutting hurts
The ongoing erosion of Kiwi science and scientific capability should concern us all, particularly those in government and closely involved with the sector.
The Save Science Coalition’s latest report shows New Zealand spends about 1.4% of GDP on science compared with the OECD’s benchmark 3%.
Government cuts since 2023 have taken hundreds of millions of dollars out of the budgets of public science agencies and resulted in about 700 job losses.
According to one scientist who lost her job as a result of the continuing dismantling of Callaghan Innovation, she has seen colleagues become destitute and suicidal. Those that can have escaped for work overseas.
This is a disgrace. These are our brightest brains who have an incalculable amount to contribute to our future.
The damage done by this government will have repercussions on science for decades.
