New Zealand introduces Zero Carbon Bill

The government of New Zealand has unveiled a plan to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, says: “To address the long-term challenge of climate change, today we introduce the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill to Parliament.” James Shaw, minister for climate change, says: “The critical thing is to do everything we can over the next 30 years to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and the Zero Carbon Bill makes that a legally bindin
May 10, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
The government of New Zealand has unveiled a plan to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.


Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, says: “To address the long-term challenge of climate change, today we introduce the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill to Parliament.”

James Shaw, minister for climate change, says: “The critical thing is to do everything we can over the next 30 years to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and the Zero Carbon Bill makes that a legally binding objective.”

Shaw explains that the government has listened to “science and also heard from industry” to create a target for a 10% reduction in biological methane emissions by 2030, with a provisional range of between 24% to 47% by 2050.

This range will be subject to review by the independent Climate Change Commission in 2024, taking into account changes in “scientific knowledge and other developments”.

According to Shaw, the commission will support the emissions reductions targets through advice, guidance and regular five-yearly emissions budgets.

“The Bill also creates a legal obligation on the Government to plan for how it will support New Zealand towns and cities, business and farmers to adapt to the increasingly severe storms, floods, fires and droughts we are experiencing as a result of climate change,” he adds.

Shaw insists that everyone has a part to play in helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global temperature increases.

“That includes New Zealanders making their contribution to see the Zero Carbon Bill become law by the end of this year,” Shaw concludes.

Related Content

  • EU approves US$660 billion to transform Europe's transport network
    March 23, 2012
    The EU's Council of transport ministers met in Brussels yesterday and approved a proposal for a new regulation of Trans European Transport – Network (TEN-T) guidelines, in a package for a Connecting Europe Facility. The proposal approved yesterday, and which will cost US$660 billion by 2020 if fully implemented, is aimed at establishing and developing a complete TEN-T, consisting of infrastructure for roads, railways, inland waterways, shipping ports and airports. It also defined a comprehensive network and
    Read More
  • Interoperability: towards the new frontier
    October 22, 2018
    After six years of intensive research, testing and negotiation, the US tolling industry is well on its way to groundbreaking results in the effort to establish regional - and eventually national - toll interoperability, says IBTTA’s Bill Cramer. Interoperability has been a high priority on the US tolling industry’s agenda for more than a decade. But several factors made it a uniquely complex issue to resolve - including the number of agencies involved, the significant investments those agencies had already
    Read More
  • A global standard for enforcement systems – is it necessary?
    May 30, 2013
    Jason Barnes speaks to leading figures from the automated enforcement sector about whether a truly international standard for automated enforcement systems is necessary or can ever be achieved. Recent reports of further press controversy in the US over automated enforcement (see ‘Focusing on accuracy?’, ITS International raise again the issue of standards and what constitutes ‘good enough’ in terms of system accuracy and overall solution effectiveness. Comparatively, automated enforcement has always expe
    Read More
  • Impact of speed limits in Barcelona
    January 20, 2012
    When Barcelona imposed an 80km/h (50mph), the result was significant in environmental, accident, fatality and injury terms. The 80km/h speed limit had the same positive environmental effect as if 22,100 cars were eliminated from the roads in the metropolitan area. Moreover, a reduction in the consumption of fuel by more than 24,000 tonnes per year was also achieved, while accidents, fatalities and injuries also showed substantial improvement.
    Read More

Highlighted Content