Skip to content

2025 an Interesting Year for Climate Policy

This year will be very interesting indeed.

Photo by Arno Senoner / Unsplash

A new year begins and it was great to see Marlborough take out the top spot in the country for sunshine hours again along with the Kaikōura Dark Sky Sanctuary being recommended as one of the best places to see stars in New Zealand.

Visitor season is upon us and our government is proud to invest in regional events that help to boost economic growth. Brookby Beats brings together the best of Marlborough’s wine producers and musical and culinary talent, with the legendary Marlborough Wine & Food Festival returning for a 40th year and the Graveler Bike Race will likely welcome 98 per cent of participants from outside the Hurunui district.

I’d also like to extend a warm welcome back to school for all our teachers and students, who will benefit from a new $30m investment in maths resources. Education is the key to growing our workforce and helping to grow our economy.  

Have your say – Blenheim to Nelson speed limits

Last week we reversed the illogical speed restrictions introduced by Labour. NZTA is also consulting on a number of other roads around the country, such as seven sections of SH6, totalling approximately 83km of the 110km-long route between Blenheim and Nelson. I encourage everyone to have their say before 13 March here.  

Getting things done

  • Since July 2024, 98 per cent of potholes reported on state highways have been repaired within 24 hours. If you see a pothole on the highway network call 0800 44 44 49. 
  • The number of families in emergency housing has reduced from 3,100 when we took office down to 600. 
  • We’ve reversed Kāinga Ora Housing NZ’s order to exclude wool carpet suppliers from tendering for work. To see woollen carpets ruled out unequivocally was unacceptable. As such, Kāinga Ora has now re-opened its tender process to allow wool manufacturers to have the option to bid if they wish. 

Column: 2025 an interesting year for climate policy

This will be an interesting and significant year for climate change policy, as nations grapple with rising energy costs, increasing consumer demand and the need for improved consistency of supply. 

The election of President Donald Trump who is a climate sceptic and the recent COP29 being labelled the COP Flop will have global implications for climate change policy. The upcoming elections in Australia, Canada, and Germany, underpinned by intermittent renewables-driven energy crises, ensures energy/climate policies will be major campaign issues. 

President Trump signed an executive order to take the US out of the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change signed by 196 nations in 2015 to limit global warming by the end of this century. There is also speculation that President Trump will also try to exit the UN body that funds climate change policy development, the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). 

If this were to happen it would be much more difficult for a future US president to re-enter the Paris Agreement and it would have significant financial implications for UN funded climate initiatives. Despite all the climate conferences and public proclamations on emission reductions, they continue to increase. Climate policies have not achieved their stated goals as few nations will subject their people to significant climate policy costs, if inconsistent with other countries. 

We only have to look to Canada to see how unpopular the significant costs of their carbon taxes are, with conservative leader Pierre Poilievre running his campaign on an ‘axe the tax’ platform for which polls show significant support. With the resignation of Justin Trudeau, it will be interesting to see if his Liberal Party will abandon the impending increase in the tax which is due this April. 

Europe’s self-inflicted energy crisis, driven by their all-out push for renewable energy aimed at reducing emissions, has driven power prices ever higher and is impacting industrial competitiveness. It is hard to reconcile their push for renewable energy with closing German nuclear power plants, which are the ultimate in zero emissions and reliable base-load energy. 

The UK is in a worse situation with their excessive reliance on heavily subsidised wind and solar, risking black outs in freezing temperatures. 

Meanwhile, Australia has gone down the same path with significant subsidies for wind and solar. Peter Dutton’s Liberal Party are running a campaign for their upcoming election to introduce nuclear base-load power utilising existing coal fired power plant sites (many of which have closed) which offer significant cost savings, given much of the necessary infrastructure such as grid connections are already there. 

As they say, ‘we live in interesting times’ and 2025 will be very interesting indeed.  

Latest

Face of the Day

Face of the Day

“This means so much getting this from (Dame) Sophie Pascoe,” Grimaldi said. “I looked up to you so much growing up and coming through sport.”

Members Public