As he writes in a blog post about the Second Emissions Reduction Plan: 

Beyond forestry, Aotearoa has opportunities for gross emissions reductions which we feel have been underplayed. Our renewable electricity potential is looking increasingly like a huge advantage for us. New Zealand is blessed with a mostly clean electricity grid. This makes faster electrification of fossil fuel-based energy and transport a massive opportunity for emissions reduction. Getting this right means changing electricity market settings to promote renewable builds. That should include specifically acknowledging the role that households can play in electricity generation via rooftop solar, and support the rollout of rooftop solar and batteries in communities.

To fit with that, the Government should note that increased densification of housing would directly reduce transport emissions, make public transport more economically viable and reduce the environmental and social costs of urban sprawl.

The Government’s “Electrify NZ” plan is a reasonable start to the task of mass electrification, but is not sufficiently ambitious. Remembering that we only have to decarbonise once, why not get on with the task rather than delaying it, when this is sure to lead to greater costs and higher community impact?

Demand side electrification involves supporting people to swap fossil fuel machines like gas heaters, gas cooktops and internal combustion vehicles for electric alternatives. It also involves supporting people to get rooftop solar & batteries. There’s a simple win to reduce fossil fuel use and dependence upon declining gas supplies – the Government should also simply ban gas connections in new home builds. Heat pumps & induction cooktops are zero-emissions, faster, more efficient, and safer. It is a bad decision for both climate and cost of living to lock in new family homes into paying for 20-30 years of expensive, increasing gas prices.

These initiatives can produce a more resilient energy system, significantly lowering emissions and also addressing the cost of living – a “win/ win/ win”.

As Rewiring Aotearoa notes, New Zealand is one of the first countries to reach the ‘electrification tipping point’ where households can save money while significantly reducing their emissions by electrifying their appliances and vehicles. Electrification is thus an opportunity to improve our lives in a number of different ways, at a household level.

Accordingly, it is disappointing to note that ERP2 has very little focus on households. There is little recognition of the role which residential energy customers could play in reducing emissions, lowering costs and creating a more resilient system.

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Read MacMahon's full blog post here.

Rewiring Aotearoa's ERP2 submission laid out our argument for more work to be done on the plan and for household decisions to be viewed as a much larger emissions reduction opportunity.

1. Go wider and deeper - get cleaner and cheaper: rethink the economic and energy assumptions that ERP2 (as well as the energy system, including fuel for transport) is founded upon. Do not suffer from carbon tunnel vision - broaden remit, encourage customer energy resources and household electrification and be panoptic to reap the many rewards of electrification: improved health and wellbeing from cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient energy.
2. Think long-term: meaningfully embed foresight into ERP2 to better prepare for reducing the extent of the economic, environmental, social impacts that climate change will have on future generations, while working towards energy security and resilience today.  
3. Disclose the Nationally Determined Contribution liability: action the McGuinness Institute’s recommendations urging the government to disclose the NDC liability in the financial statements of the New Zealand government.
4. Be transparent: release the modelling used to inform and justify the proposals made throughout ERP2.  
5. Transition with fairness and equity: prevent disproportionate impacts on Māori and Pasifika and all low-income, marginalised and disadvantaged communities. This means making clean energy affordable and accessible for all.

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