A climate change report released today (4 April) by Westpac shows there are big savings to be made from early and planned action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw.
“This report is in line with what I have been saying since becoming the Minister for Climate Change, that there are big opportunities to be had from acting on climate change sooner rather than later to meet Paris Agreement commitments to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius by 2050,” says James Shaw.
“In fact, Westpac’s Climate Change Impact Report says taking early, planned action to transition to a net zero emissions economy could save New Zealand $30 billion dollars in GDP growth by 2050 compared with a later ‘shock’ scenario approach.
“While the report Westpac NZ has commissioned bases its findings on two hypothetical scenarios, the findings make reasonable assumptions such as delaying action, in a ‘shock’ scenario, would most likely result in a higher carbon price in the future.
“Basically this report says that acting now, in a carefully planned approach, makes sound financial sense and allows better options to help transition various sectors into a net zero emissions economy, including the agricultural sector,” says Mr Shaw.
“The longer we leave it, the fewer options we face and the higher the price we will pay.
“Westpac’s report shows New Zealand can transition to a net zero economy while continue economic growth.
“And later this month, I plan to release the Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group’s latest report that will lay out the sort of options we can consider to adapt to the effects of climate change and help make us more resilient,” says Mr Shaw
The Westpac report is at: https://www.westpac.co.nz/assets/Sustainability/Westpac-NZ-Climate-Chang...
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