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Green Growth and Climate Change Policies in New Zealand

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  • Alexandra Bibbee

    (OECD)

Abstract

New Zealand, as a resource-based economy anxious to protect and promote its clean-and-green image, appropriately sees green growth as a natural direction for future development. The country’s environment is of high quality, and depletion of its abundant natural resources is for the most part not a problem. Nevertheless, there are challenges. With little pricing of water resources, water scarcity is being felt increasingly acutely in some dairy-intensive regions prone to drought. Water-quality degradation is linked to leakage from farming by-products. Agricultural activity also gives rise to nearly half the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, though electricity consumption and private transport are growing sources of pressure. New Zealand’s GHG intensity of output is the second highest in the OECD (after Australia’s), not surprising for a resource-rich country. Its unique emissions profile, however, makes for costly mitigation: an exceptionally high proportion of electricity generation is already renewable-based (mainly hydro), and no technology to significantly reduce methane from ruminant animals yet exists. New Zealand is a pioneer in implementing an emissions trading scheme (NZ ETS) covering all sectors and gases. Green growth could best be supported by the greater use of market mechanisms among a range of instruments in natural resource management and by strengthening price signals in the NZ ETS. This Working Paper relates to the 2011 OECD Economic Review of New Zealand (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/NewZealand). Politiques relatives à la croissance verte et au changement climatique en Nouvelle-Zélande La Nouvelle-Zélande, dont l’économie repose sur l’exploitation de ses ressources naturelles et qui a à coeur de protéger et de promouvoir son image de pays respectueux de l’environnement, voit à juste titre dans la croissance verte une orientation naturelle pour son développement futur. Le pays bénéficie d’un environnement de qualité et du fait de l’abondance de ses ressources naturelles il n’est guère menacé par le risque de leur épuisement. Néanmoins, des défis se profilent à l’horizon. La tarification des ressources en eau étant peu pratiquée, des pénuries d’eau se font sentir avec de plus en plus d’acuité dans certaines régions de production laitière exposées aux sécheresses. La qualité des eaux se dégrade en raison des infiltrations de sous-produits agricoles. L’activité agricole est par ailleurs responsable de près de la moitié des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) du pays, tandis que la consommation d’électricité et le transport privé pèsent eux aussi de plus en plus. L’intensité de production de GES de la Nouvelle-Zélande est la deuxième plus élevée de l’OCDE (après l’Australie), ce qui n’est guère surprenant pour un pays richement doté en ressources. Son profil spécifique d’émissions, toutefois, rend coûteuses les mesures d’atténuation : une proportion exceptionnellement élevée de la production électrique est déjà basée sur les énergies renouvelables (essentiellement hydrauliques), et il n’existe pas encore de technologies permettant de sensiblement réduire les émissions de méthane des animaux ruminants. La Nouvelle-Zélande est pionnière dans la mise en oeuvre d’un système d’échange de quotas d’émission (ETS) couvrant l’ensemble des secteurs et des gaz. Le meilleur moyen de promouvoir une croissance verte serait d’utiliser plus largement les mécanismes de marché, entre autres instruments, pour la gestion des ressources naturelles et de renforcer les signaux donnés par les prix dans le cadre du système néo-zélandais d’échange de quotas d’émission. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Nouvelle-Zélande 2011 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/Nouvelle-Zélande).

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Bibbee, 2011. "Green Growth and Climate Change Policies in New Zealand," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 893, OECD Publishing.
  • Handle: RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:893-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5kg51mc6k98r-en
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    Keywords

    agricultural emissions; biodiversity; biodiversité; carbon price; changement climatique; climate change; emissions trading scheme; environmental policies; gestion des déchets; gestion des resources; GHG emissions; industries minières; Kyoto obligations; mining; New Zealand; Nouvelle-Zélande; nutrient trading; politiques environnementales; pollution de l'eau; renewables; resource management; waste management; water pollution; water use; échange de quotas sur les nutriments; émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES); émissions du secteur agricole; énergies renouvelables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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