New Zealand is no longer on track to meet its 2050 net-zero emissions target, or the third emissions budget for 2031 to 2035. This government’s attack on Climate Action started almost from Day 1, with the mindless reversal of initiatives the previous government was working on.

Transportation

The repeal of the Clean Car Discount was one of the first casualties. This was a successful program that lifted our EV uptake to one of the highest in the world and cost the government nothing – paid for by high-polluting cars, the Utes, the Remuera tractors. EV sales have dropped by more than 60%, from 4916 cars in the June Quarter 2023 to just 1840 two years later.

The $257 million in funding and installation of EV charging stations, promised with great fanfare by the Prime Minister, has turned out to be a charade. Zero charging stations installed, and no budget allocated two years later. And now it seems that there will be no government funding for this, only loans.

Auckland’s Fuel Tax levy was cancelled, and planned hikes in national fuel taxes were stopped. And now it’s the EV owners who have to pay, with license fees higher than for fuel-powered cars. The program to transition the national bus fleet to electric has been largely defunded. The Clean Car standard has been significantly weakened by slashing charges by 80%, leaving us as a dumping ground for high-emission vehicles.

Fossil Fuels and Energy

The coalition reversed the Labour government’s ban on offshore exploration of fossil fuels and included fossil fuels in the Fast Track law. And we withdrew from the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), an international coalition working to phase out oil and gas production.

Shane Jones was given a budget of $200 million to, well, promote fossil fuel exploration. This is despite there being no gas or oil finds for at least the past ten years, and mining being a negligible share of our GDP, less than 1%. Spanish wind farm company Blu Float Energy has left the country, while Sumitomo has paused its wind initiatives.

Methane Targets

In its five-year review, the Climate Change Commission recommended raising the 2050 Methane targets from 24-47% to 35-47%. The government responded by doing the opposite, significantly weakening even from the original target to 14-24% below 2017 levels. Plans to charge for agricultural emissions from 2025 have been pushed back to 2030 at the earliest, and it’s highly doubtful even that will happen.

Other

The Climate Emergency Response Fund set up with $4.5 billion by the Labour government has been scrapped. The Climate Commission’s role has been weakened by removing the requirement for the government to follow its advice. The world-first mandatory climate reporting law was weakened in 2025. The threshold for companies required to report was raised (e.g., from $60m to $1b for listed companies), exempting nearly half of the previously covered entities.

Nicola Willis said that “we will not send billions overseas” if we fail to meet emissions targets, effectively reneging on our commitment to the Paris Accords signed by John Key’s national government. New Zealand has slipped further back on Climate Performance to 44^th out of 67 countries.

We are no longer the country that’s proud of doing the right thing. The assault on Climate Change action continues unabated. Nothing this government does can make up for the damage they are doing to the climate and race relations. I shudder to think where we will end up if this government is re-elected.