Energy

Nearly 200 NZ schools still burning coal for heat

18:25 pm on 13 April 2021

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It's a scene out of a Dickens novel - coal being shovelled straight into a coal boiler to heat up uninsulated and cold classrooms.

But for many teachers and children across New Zealand, it's daily life.

Around 200 schools still use a coal boiler, but the government is hoping to put an end to it.

Ten more schools are being subsidised to get a replacement heating source, but National is questioning whether it will actually reduce any emissions.

Harry Lock reports.