The government has quietly delayed by a year a deadline for councils to consider climate gas emissions when deciding whether to grant consents.
Photo: 123RF
Consultation on the pathway to phase out fossil fuels for industrial heating was done in April and May, and Cabinet agreed to set out nationally consistent rules.
Changes to the Resource Management Act slated for the end of the year would have made regional councils take climate emissions into account when making rules and giving permission for businesses to use industrial fossil fuel boilers.
Cabinet has now agreed to delay that until 30 November 2022, subject to final Cabinet approval.
In an email update to submitters, the Environment Ministry says the reason for the delay is to give time to work out how to treat greenhouse gas emissions that do not come from industrial heat processes while work is still being doing to complete the RMA reforms underway.
In other climate policy-related delays, the government also re-wrote the law to give itself five more months to come up with a detailed plan for the country to become carbon-neutral by 2050.
It was due to be released by the end of the year but is now coming in May around Budget 2022 time.
The government has declared a climate change emergency, and it is been described by the Prime Minister as her generation's nuclear free moment.
Process heat is about 8 percent of New Zealand's emissions and is the second largest source of energy-related emissions after transport.
A ban on new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers has also been delayed a further three months to the end of March, RNZ understands.
The government also plans to existing coal boilers by 2037.