The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers.
To ensure a just transition away from fossil-fuels, the Green Party's Clean Energy Plan will:
- Establish a Clean Energy Industry Training Plan to support thousands of people into jobs.
- Introduce grants to halve the price of installing solar in privately-owned homes, and offer grants and low-interest loans for businesses to transition.
- Upgrade all 63,000 social and community homes with solar panels and batteries.
- Ban new industrial coal boilers within the first 100 days in Government.
- End coal use in Aotearoa by 2030.
- Create a $250 million Clean Energy Fund which communities can draw from for local renewable energy projects.
- Simplify planning rules to make it easier to build wind turbines.
Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw said today:
"Our Clean Energy Plan is the first part of our transformational plan to end the use of fossil-fuels in Aotearoa. It will help to ensure our grandchildren inherit a world where they can not only survive, but thrive.
"When all our energy comes from the sun, the wind, and the flow of rivers, we won't need to burn the fossil fuels that cause the climate crisis.
"Over decades, Governments have failed to respond to the climate change challenge by supporting the use of dirty fossil fuels. Our window to act is shrinking and we must make meaningful changes now to secure our children's future.
"Our Clean Energy Plan empowers communities, businesses and families to create a truly sustainable Aotearoa which runs on the energy nature provides."
Green Party Energy Spokesperson Gareth Hughes said today:
"This plan allows us to go further and faster on climate action by supporting all of us to move to clean energy. This is a comprehensive plan to ditch fossil fuels once and for all.
"It is an investment in all of our futures, which creates firm targets, clear oversight, and an example for the world to follow.
"The Green Party's package is ambitious, wide-ranging, and achievable. By making the right decisions now, we can secure the future we all deserve.
"Everything depends on us acting now, but if we do, we can create an Aotearoa we're proud to pass on."
