NZ to subsidise EVs and tax ICEVs

 From The Guardian

The New Zealand government is introducing subsidies to make electric vehicles thousands of dollars cheaper and new petrol and diesel cars [ICEVs] more expensive, as the country tries [to] transition to an emissions-free fleet.

The changes follow New Zealand’s Climate Commission recommendations which laid out sweeping changes required to get the country closer to its emissions targets.

The subsidies for electric and some hybrid vehicles would be up to NZ$8,625 [US$6150] for new vehicles and NZ$3,450 [US$2460] for used [imported] cars. They will start next month.

Transport now makes up almost 33% of long-lived greenhouse gas emissions in Aotearoa, and last week, the Climate Commission laid out new benchmarks for the country to transform the makeup of its fleet. The commission’s recommended plan included banning imports of petrol and diesel cars by 2032, and that road transport be almost completely decarbonised by 2050. To meet its goal for transport emissions, the commission concluded electric vehicles would need to make up half of all light vehicle registrations by 2029, and 100% by 2035.

“Our transport emissions are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand, so we need to start taking action now if we are going to meet our 2050 targets,” transport minister Michael Wood said in a written statement.

“New Zealand is actually lagging behind on the uptake of EVs, so we are playing catch up internationally,” he said. He said the policy would prevent up to an estimated 9.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

The subsidies would be funded by introducing new charges on imports of high-emission utility vehicles and SUVs. For example, an imported Toyota Hilux – one of New Zealand’s more popular utes – could incur a fee of NZ$2,900. Those fees would kick in at the start of January 2022.

New Zealand is one of the world’s worst performers on emission increases, and hitting its climate goals will require a reversal of its current trajectory. The country’s emissions rose by 57% between 1990 and 2018 – the second greatest increase of all industrialised countries. Earlier this year, data showed that New Zealand’s emissions had increased by 2% in 2018-19. 

To be fair, NZ's CO2 emissions per capita were 7.7 tonnes in 2018, lower than China's (8 tonnes), Canada and the USA (16.1 tonnes) and Australia (16.8 tonnes), because 82% of electricity comes from renewable sources  The good news is that despite having relatively low emissions for a developed country, it's still trying to reduce them further.

Source: Wikipedia (Cameron Paisley)