28076 (2024). Hon Barbara Edmonds to the Minister of Finance

28076 (2024). Hon Barbara Edmonds to the Minister of Finance: Does the Minister expect climate emissions to increase, due to Budget 2024?

Hon Nicola Willis: Corrected reply: Officials prepared a Climate implication of Policy Assessment (CIPA) for a subset of relevant initiatives in the Budget 2024 package. The completed CIPA and a summary of its findings were presented to Cabinet. I note that the CIPA approach has some limitations and quirks. For example, this process highlighted the emissions impact of increasing the number of frontline police officers and of purchasing defence vehicles. While there is some uncertainty over the cumulative climate impacts of the Budget package, the initiatives in scope of the CIPA are not expected to materially impact the first emissions budget (EB1, 2023-2025). However, there are some initiatives that will increase the existing uncertainty associated with meeting the second and third emissions budgets (EB2, 2026-2030 and EB3, 2031-2035 respectively). The Government is working through the process to develop the second Emissions Reduction Plan this year. This will provide us with the opportunity to consider whether any additional actions might be needed to support our achievement of our future climate targets.