CONSULTATION OPEN ON SWEEPING NEW MEASURES TO REDUCE NZ’S EMISSIONS Words by Helen Barnes : General Manager, TomatoesNZ Inc.
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) released their Draft Advice for consultation on 1 February. It includes advice on the first three emissions budgets and on policy direction for the government’s first emissions reduction plan. Consultation on this advice is open until 14 March. TomatoesNZ will be joining with Horticulture New Zealand and Vegetables NZ to make a joint submission. Some key points included in the CCC advice: Proposes replacing coal used for industrial process heat (including heating commercial vegetable greenhouses) with biomass and electricity by 2030; and replacing gas with biomass and electricity by 2035. Along with boiler conversion, they assume significant improvements in energy efficiency. All new space heating or hot water systems installed after 2025 in new buildings (including glasshouses) would have to be either electric or biomass, and no further natural gas connections to the grid, or bottled LPG connections would be allowed to occur after 2025. The report notes constraints on biomass supply in some regions; and electrification of process heat will be at a significantly higher operational cost, with expansion of the electricity transmission and distribution grids also required. It notes biomass “uptake will require the development of supply chains for gathering and processing biomass along with the establishment of local markets.” And that process heat must be phased in a way that would enable assets and infrastructure to be replaced on “as natural a cycle as possible” to maintain growth while minimising costs from stranded or writtendown assets.
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They also advise on the phase out of industrial free allocation in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). “If an ongoing and substantial risk of emissions leakage becomes evident, industrial free allocation phase out rates could be slowed down.” Following consultation, feedback will be incorporated and the final advice will be presented to government by 31 May. The government will have until 31 December to decide whether to accept the recommendations. The full report is available at: https://www.climatecommission.govt. nz/get-involved/our-advice-and-evidence/
Tomato Red Spider Mite Survey completed A small, established population of tomato red spider mite, Tetranychus evansi (TRSM), was detected at Auckland Airport in May 2020. The TRSM was found on black nightshade weeds Solanum nigrum during a routine HighRisk Site Surveillance inspection by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). It was estimated that the population had been present for two or more years. Under a GIA response, a “delimiting survey” of the greater Auckland area was commissioned to assess how far the TRSM population had spread and whether it was already present in commercial growers’ operations. The survey sites included both indoor and outdoor growers’ properties and non-commercial locations (e.g., roadsides, parks).
