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A new report suggests it might be possible for New Zealand’s economy to still grow and reduce emissions at the same time.<\/p>\n
Many have thought it can’t be done, but the Sustainable Business Council has been on a mission to prove otherwise.<\/p>\n
The membership organisation released research which had shown moving to a low emissions economy, instead of relying only on the carbon price pathway, could help to increase GDP by $22 billion by 2035 and $33 billion by 2050. By 2035, emissions could have reduced by 6 percent a year and 22 percent by 2050.<\/p>\n
The council’s chief executive Mike Burrell said the growth numbers rely on developing a holistic system, something that was already happening in small like-minded economies like the Netherlands, Denmark and Singapore.<\/p>\n
“If you’ve got stable and enduring policies, if you’ve got abundant renewable energy, if you accelerate your innovation and your productivity, and you’ve got a credible carbon price, these things act together,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They reduce costs, they lift efficiency, they strengthen your long run competitiveness, and importantly, act as a system, not a series of independent policy levers.”<\/p>\n
Burrell said examples of good policy already exist in the way we manage other economic levers and they don’t require all sides of politics to agree on everything.<\/p>\n
“If you think about something for example, the superannuation fund or independent monetary policy that came as a result of leadership by the government of the day,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The government of the day said ‘we’re going to take a medium term view and we’re going to set this out,’ and subsequent governments went, ‘hey, do you know what that was? A great idea that’s really good for New Zealand’s growth. Let’s stick with that.'”<\/p>\n
Burrell said the current oil shock had once again exposed the New Zealand economy’s weaknesses and a consistent policy approach is more important than ever.<\/p>\n
“What we’re saying is here’s an opportunity to make New Zealand’s economy more resilient, for us to have the ability to drive our economy where we’ve got more control over over the kind of energy we produce.<\/p>\n
“The idea of being more affluent isn’t to be prosperous for prosperity sake, it allows you more choices.”<\/p>\n