This is the joint submission of Greenpeace Aotearoa, the Environmental Defence Society and Forest & Bird on the application by Hiringa Energy Limited and Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited for the Kapuni Green Hydrogen Project under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020.
We welcome the opportunity to submit on this application, given the impact the proposed project would have on the climate and biodiversity. Addressing the existential crisis of climate change has never been more urgent. Climate change is already taking lives and damaging health, homes, food security, culture and livelihoods. It is already accelerating the extinction of the wildlife and wild places with which we share this Earth. Poor and marginalised communities are already suffering the most, despite being the least responsible for causing this crisis. Government action, or inaction, over the next decade will determine the future for billions of people and the wildlife we share this planet with.
The organisations submit that this consent should be rejected on the grounds that its primary purpose is the production of urea that will worsen outcomes nationally for the climate; environment; coastal and freshwater quality; air quality; indigenous biodiversity; and the wellbeing of current and future generations. It will also undermine New Zealand’s efforts to mitigate climate change and transition more quickly to a low-emissions economy (in terms of reducing New Zealand’s net emissions of greenhouse gases); and weaken environmental, economic, and social resilience, in terms of managing the risks from natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Overall the project will have significant adverse environmental effects, including greenhouse gas emissions.
