Analysis: The Resource Minister said it, but is it true and why does it matter?

Analysis: Burning less coal to make electricity helped New Zealand achieve its biggest official annual drop in planet-heating gases since records started in 1990.

The same week those figures came out, Resources Minister Shane Jones told Morning Report New Zealand should develop more of its own coal, rather than importing “dirty” coal from Indonesia.

Jones earlier told Parliament that opposition MPs turned a blind eye while New Zealand imported Indonesian coal “every month, to keep the lights on.”

While it’s true Genesis Energy - owner of the country’s only coal-fired station - burns coal to run its Huntly generators, it last year reported that its last shipment of coal had arrived in July 2022.

Government figures show New Zealand was a net exporter of coal every year since records began, except 2021 - a dry year for hydro, coupled with an unexpected shortage on Genesis’ gas field.

That was the year Huntly used record amounts of imported Indonesian coal, pushing up the climate impact of the whole country.

  • liv
    3·
    2 months ago

    Yeah nah, country of origin is important.

    To people interested in the environment the phrase “Indonesian coal” tells us two things really quickly.

    Firstly, that it comes from an industry that’s deforesting, killing orangutans etc. The Indonesian mining sector is open cast, meaning they tear up the rainforest to get at the coal. Obviously you can’t remediate that, not that they try hard, and it pollutes, causes flooding, and destroys livelihoods as well.

    Secondly, Indonesia’s coal is sub-bituminous. That’s a crappy low grade kind of coal that releases way more greenhouse gasses than high grade coal.

    Edit: Shane Jones might well be trying to use racist overtones like you and @[email protected] said, I’m just saying calling it “Indonesian coal” isn’t inherently race whistling.

    • deadbeef79000
      2·
      2 months ago

      Thank you for that detail. I was aware that coal’s qualities differ from region to region (hence Huntly not burning NZ coal). But was ignorant of what regions’ qualities are.

      In that context yeah, country or origin is an effective short-hand.