Climate policy in 2024 – readout on the Emissions Reduction Plan

On 11 December the government released the second Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), outlining how New Zealand will meet its emissions budgets for the period 2026-30.

What does the ERP mean for aviation? Here are NZ Airports’ main takeaways.

  • The government’s focus areas remain consistent. Its policies are designed to scale up renewable energy, foster a technology-led climate transition, and improve market-based measures in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). These policies will support the shifts we need to see across the economy for decarbonisation, with flow on effects to the aviation sector – particularly domestic aviation, which is covered by the ETS).
  • The government’s strong focus on renewable energy is welcome – but aviation remains a blind spot in New Zealand’s energy targets. The government’s vanguard policy, Electrify NZ, is designed to accelerate the rollout of electricity generation and transmission projects, which are critical for all airports as we prepare for future electric aircraft. However New Zealand’s renewable energy targets still do not account for future demand from zero emission and low emission aviation. That being said, it’s great to see the language in the ERP to ensure “clean energy is abundant and affordable”. There’s no doubt that a strategy for energy abundance is key for New Zealand when we consider the power requirements for aviation, carbon capture technology and data centres in the future.
  • We’re disappointed to see no real progress on specific initiatives for aviation decarbonisation. There are general references to aviation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and the government-industry group Sustainable Aviation Aotearoa, but these are similar in tone to the last ERP two years ago. The ERP notes SAF as a promising technology that can be part of a technology-led approach to emissions reduction. It also says the government has committed to “enabling the development of sustainable aviation and marine biofuels”. The main new initiative related to this is a Ministerial taskforce on woody bioenergy, with more details to be released in 2025. This may help us take the conversation on SAF policy forward.
  • With the lack of specifics at this stage, New Zealand risks falling behind other countries. Check out ICAO’s policy tracker to see how the rest of the world is faring on enabling decarbonisation policy.
  • Some of the other content on SAF looks on the surface to be a step backwards when we compare the consultation document with the final outcome. Specific cooperation with Australia and Singapore on SAF has been removed in favour of more general statements on encouraging international engagement. However, we have been reassured that the government’s focus on SAF cooperation in the 2+2 agreement with Australia remains, and this is to be a focus of the Sustainable Aviation Aotearoa process.
  • The government wants to foster private investment in hydrogen, with a Hydrogen Action Plan released on 14 December to create enabling regulations, reduce consenting barriers, support early stage trialling and international cooperation.
  • The government is progressing a range of initiatives on measuring embodied carbon in buildings and increasing the availability of energy performance ratings, which may be useful for both aeronautical and non-aeronautical infrastructure at airports.

Would we see more ERP content on aviation if international aviation emissions were included in New Zealand’s 2050 net zero target? The Climate Change Commission thinks so. The Commission released its report on international aviation and maritime emissions on 5 December. It concluded that emissions from international shipping and aviation should be included in a revised net negative 20 MtCO2e target, arguing that including these emissions was feasible and would mean these sectors become part of New Zealand’s emissions reduction planning.

In making this recommendation, the Commission assumes that there would be strong enabling policy and other support to drive aviation decarbonisation. This would require a significant shift – and catch up – on what we currently see in the ERP.

We agree action is needed, quickly. Inclusion in the 2050 target could be one driver to improve New Zealand’s planning and performance, although New Zealand’s international commitments to ICAO should be sufficient to drive action on their own. Most importantly, any domestic action in New Zealand needs to support and complement global initiatives, including CORSIA.

The government has 12 months to respond to the Commission’s recommendation that international aviation and shipping emissions are included in the 2050 target. We hope the process will move faster, and not require the whole year.

The major gap in both the ERP and Commission report is a sophisticated analysis of the state of our aviation sector and what it will take to achieve next zero by 2050. For a country dependent on aviation for our prosperity and wellbeing, we need to see much stronger focus on how we decarbonise and future proof this sector. It’s time to get into the detail.

In the meantime, neither of these reports will actually reduce our emissions – industry must forge ahead and do what it can!

Our submissions on the ERP and Climate Change Commission consultations can be read here: