“Governments around the world are announcing phase-out dates for coal. It’s time New Zealand stopped dragging the chain…”

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Open letter to NZ Parliament

Hundreds of the world’s top climate experts have collectively stated that we need unprecedented societal change within the next ten years in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. We must bear this in mind as we rebuild NZ out of the Covid 19 lockdown. Billions of dollars are at your disposal for ‘shovel ready’ infrastructure projects that will either contribute to Aotearoa’s environmental, social and cultural needs or will continue to fund the dysfunctional status quo; further entrenching heavy-emitting infrastructure. We need a purposeful decision to invest in building a better, fairer, regenerative future.

It is imperative that this public money does not end up in the hands of industries known to harm the environment and contribute to climate change. Instead, use this as an opportunity to start implementing a just transition away from fossil fuels. The Stockton Mine is currently not running due to lockdown and is relying on government money to stay afloat. We strongly encourage you to keep this mine closed and assist the 250 workers to transition into alternative employment. We also urge you to implement, as soon as possible:

• A plan for a just transition to retrain all workers in the coal mining sector
• A moratorium on new coal mines, as advised by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton
• A policy for no new mines on conservation land
• A fast phase out of coal boilers in schools, hospitals, and industrial dairy; instead utilising wood chip boilers and increased insulation and energy efficiency measures
• Provide funds for farming communities to transition away from intensive dairy (a heavy user of industrial coal) to regenerative practises

The economic Covid response must align with the phaseout of coal mining and burning in NZ. Considering what we know about climate change, and respecting the national and international agreements painstakingly signed on to, a future in coal mining is clearly unviable.

Recent research from Lawyers for Climate Action NZ has shown that there is a legal imperative for climate change to be a core consideration in determining the post-Covid 19 stimulus spending. Now is the time to redesign society and move toward a future which works within planetary boundaries. Decisions made now in terms of “shovel ready” projects will have enormous repercussions on future climate stability and local resilience to climate impacts. This is the time for bold and innovative decisions. The response to COVID-19 will set the legacy for this government in the lead up to the election.

We thank you for the time and consideration you give our views. Now is the opportunity to demonstrate to voters that you are listening to our calls for equity, resilience, and a sustainable future for all.

Yours sincerely,

Coal Action Network Aotearoa 

About Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Coal Action Network Aotearoa is an Incorporated Society with a goal of no new coal mines in Aotearoa, and to have all coal mines closed down by 2027 (when most of the current permits expire), specifically because of coal’s contribution to climate change.

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A day of discussion, information…. and plotting the end of coal in Aotearoa.

Sunday 26 May
9.30 – 4pm
9 The Octagon,  Central Dunedin

New Zealand is mining, burning, and continuing to increase our use of the very worst of fossil fuels: COAL.  In the current climate emergency, we all need to rally together to build a better future, and that means getting rid of coal.

Step One on the road to stopping a climate emergency?  Get informed.

• Climate breakdown
• Fonterra
• Coal in Dunedin
• Coal and Just Transitions
• The upcoming Minerals Forum at the Dunedin Centre

The post Coal in Aotearoa – Discussion Day, Sunday 26 May appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

You might have seen a new hashtag emerging on the CANA Facebook page: #goodnewsstories.

You might, equally, wonder what these stories about bananas and tramping tracks have to do with our coal focus.

Well, I’ll tell you!

As you may have noticed, anytime there’s any glimmer of governmental support for winding down the fossil fuel industry, the media loves to bang on about lost jobs and damages to The Economy. This ongoing fear-mongering is damaging to our climate targets, completely misses the bigger picture of what’s at stake if we don’t transition away from fossil fuels, and ignores the potential for significantly more jobs emerging in the renewable energy sector.

The point of all these Good News Stories is to provide another perspective. A positive perspective. Opportunities abound; the world is our oyster. We don’t need to rely on a fossil fuel economy. Kiwi ingenuity is shining – people have started businesses using the changing climate to their advantage; growing bananas or coffee. A new Great Walk is giving new life to a tired mining town, with huge potential for creative tourism opportunities.

All too often the news feed of an environmentalist is gloomy and bleak. It’s exhausting. The standard scare tactics of people just trying to get people to care have been largely ineffective. We are human – we crave inspiration, positivity, humanity, hope. In the face of climate change, there is still an abundance of all of these things. They just get lost among all the other, more catastrophic, click-bait. So CANA’s Good News Stories have come about as an effort to bring some hope and positivity back to environmentalists, and also to reach those who don’t put themselves in that category – just people looking for inspiration.

If you have any stories you would like us to share, personal or otherwise, please email or message us. In the words of my personal favourite Climate Inspirer Paul Hawken, we have an opportunity “to see global warming not as an inevitability but as an invitation to build, innovate, and effect change, a pathway that awakens creativity, compassion, and genius.”

Here’s some examples of people doing just that:

The “Carrot Crusader” Alex Davies started a pop-up restaurant after the Christchurch earthquake, with an emphasis on showcasing local vegetables:
: https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/23-07-2018/the-carrot-crusader-meet-the-christchurch-chef-changing-the-game/?utm_source=The+Bulletin&utm_campaign=022c0e7916-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_01_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_552336e15a-022c0e7916-533766577

Northland’s “thriving banana growing business” is extending to Gisborne with funding going into growing an East Coast banana economy: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/104988290/east-coast-banana-growing-venture-taps-into-taxpayer-funding

A couple who have become NZ’s first commercial coffee growers: https://thisnzlife.co.nz/inside-new-zealands-first-commercial-coffee-harvest/

A new Great Walk bringing life to ex-mining town Blackball:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018649769/paparoa-track-a-great-walk-for-cyclists-too  and https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/104795894/New-West-Coast-Great-Walk-the-Paparoa-Track-a-thank-you-and-an-opportunity

And dairy legend Glen’s mission to make milk a sustainable industry:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/21-04-2018/i-founded-happy-cow-to-make-a-difference-in-dairying-i-failed/

Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for more upcoming Good News…or even go out and make some!

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Good on Jacinda Ardern and the current New Zealand government for their courage in announcing an end to offshore oil exploration, and issuing no new onshore permits outside of Taranaki.  This vital first step re-directs our focus away from fossil fuels toward an industry sustained by renewable energy.  Transitions do have to start somewhere, and at the least, this is a start.  James Shaw is correct when he states that there is an “enormous opportunity for the creation of new jobs and new technologies that our dependence on fossil fuels has held back for too long.”

And shame on the National Party for responding to this announcement with disdainful terms like ‘economic vandalism’.  Economic vandalism is the refusal—inability—to see the dire economic repercussions of full blown climate chaos.  Regional and national governments are regularly confronted by billions of dollars in cost with every drought, flood and cyclone that devastates a community.  Ignoring the increasing frequency and intensity of these storms is a form of negligence that future generations will be loath to forgive.

Vandalism is deliberate, mischievous or malicious.  Ardern’s announcement is deliberate, cautious and commensurate.  She is setting a course.  Many in the climate movement have responded that the course hasn’t been adjusted enough to make an impact, while the fossil fuel industry warns that driving production overseas will harm the environment; they clearly see the greenhouse gas over New Zealand as somehow more green and less harmful that the greenhouse gases over the rest of the planet.

Discussions, thoughts, about climate chaos can either lure despondency or arouse fury.  It is an issue of such importance that the life of the planet is literally balanced in the outcome.  It’s like we’re in a Bruce Willis movie where all the explosions are played by extreme weather events, and the ultimate good-guy hero that saves the day is you and me – so CANA would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Oil Free Wellington for their successful, inspired and indeed heroic hosting of the Rally for Climate Justice.

This was Rosemary’s fifth Oil Summit blockade, and she felt it was the most hopeful because of the diverse cross section of society who gathered and stood together against continuing a fossil fuel addiction that will literally cost us the earth.  The presence of the Supergrans gave depth and wisdom to the action, but the mix of high school kids, iwi, cyclists, professionals, church groups and activists from all over Aotearoa established this blockade as a unified movement.  It wasn’t just a protest.

“Five years ago, outside the Westpac Stadium, I felt powerless alongside the other protestors, watching the delegates enter the conference, pomposity intact. This year I saw worried-looking delegates hustled through fire exit doors and underground car park entrances guarded by angry police. The diversity affected them too.”  —Rosemary 

Oil Free Wellington ensured that those involved in the Rally understood what is at stake, so they opened and freely shared a vault of wisdom on the Sunday prior to the Blockade.  Scientists spoke factually.  Lawyers spoke of the law.  Tangata whenua spoke of tradition and history.  And the people of Taranaki spoke of their lost taonga, the loss of their food basket and their poisoned land.

“I got a heart-felt connection to the Taranaki people who’ve been fighting oil & fracking for years.  I gained a stronger sense of connection with the many people around Aotearoa.” 

—Torfrida

Oil Free Wellington is one part of the consistent pressure a determined climate movement has been put on the Petroleum Conference since it started convening in New Zealand.  This year, this pressure forced conference organizers into secrecy about the venue and the start date; the conference was delayed a full day.

The annual attendance by climate groups at these oil and gas conferences also forced a huge police presence.  Delegates got up 2 hours early to try to get inside the venue before the blockade was formed, but those working to stave off full-blown climate disruption got up even earlier and were in place when those delegates arrived, so the start of the conference was delayed further.  The determination and conviction of those forming the blockade led to the police escorting and protecting the food being delivered for lunch, which was a bizarre thing to watch.

“I was proud to be one of a group of over 70s who held the line in front of the main doors which were never breached. I was proud that we established a conversation with the police who stepped back from their aggression and shared the odd joke. I was very disappointed to hear later of the violence they showed our people on the other side of the building.”  —Jeanette

Petroleum Conference proceedings were disrupted even further with deafening noise.  The TSB Arena is not much more than a long metal shed, and we all know what a racket can be made by pounding on sheets of aluminium.

“The ‘music’ from the ‘band’ was ingenious!  Rubbish bin lids slamming.  Umbrellas carrying the rhythm of a drum beat.  An orchestra of improvised noise makers.  The oil and gas companies must have got the message that they are not welcome here.”  —Jenny

Jacinda Ardern had intimated that she would lead a government that says “No” to new oil and gas exploration, but her announcement does little to address the possible decades of production if oil were to be found on an existing permit or the continued issuance of on-shore permits.  When the government says, “It’s okay to explore and extract,” the voices of those who know better must be heard loud and clear.  That’s why blockades and actions like the one hosted by Oil Free Wellington are so important.

“There was one point in the blockade where I just stepped outside myself and watched.  The police were standing in a line with their arms outstretched.  All of them were wearing black gloves.  I could hear bagpipes and bicycle bells.  A bunch of yellow-caped grannies and grampies came round the corner carrying placards with photos of their grandchildren.  It was raining, and a guy gave me a piece of chalk so that I could write a message about why I was there.”  —Zella

This government has drawn a line in the sand and set our country on the path to a clean energy, low carbon future.  It clearly hasn’t gone far enough to address the oncoming destruction of full-scale climate disruption, but it is a start.

“This is what change looks like. It’s messy, and it’s never as complete or as urgent as it needs to be, and vested interests who’ve spent centuries colonising and destroying the planet for profit don’t give up easily or quickly. But it’s a step in the right direction, made possible by relentless pressure. Now we have to step up the pressure even further on all fossil fuels.”  — Tim

The post Years Of Pressure On Oil and Gas Exploration Pay Off: Jacinda Ardern Announces An End To Offshore Oil And Gas Block Offers appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Climate Justice Aotearoa has produced an excellent report of the conference on their website, which we have lightly adapted here:

This year’s ECO conference saw what Jeanette Fitzsimons of CANA described as a coming together of “natural allies”  with environmentalists and unions exploring the opportunities and challenges associated with realising a just transition for workers and communities here in Aotearoa.

“A just transition means moving to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy that maximises the benefits of climate action while minimising hardships for workers and their communities.” – Gary Cranston of Unite Union.

The panel began with an inspiring video presentation by Sean Sweeney from Trade Unions for Energy Democracy who introduced us to the work of TUED and provided us with many inspiring examples of alliances between environmental and worker’s movements.

Coal Action Network Aotearoa’s main contribution to Just Transition work in Aotearoa has been our Jobs After Coal: A Just Transition for New Zealand Communities report – you can read more about the report, and its reception, on our Jobs After Coal page.

Let’s keep this conversation going as we move on to making this just transition happen in the real world. You can contact the panelists as follows:

Sean Sweeney : Trade Unions for Energy Democracy : sweeneygli@gmail.com

Gary Cranston : Unite Union – Climate Justice Aoteraoa

Jared Abbott : First Union

Jeanette Fitzsimons : Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Sam Huggard : NZ Council of Trade Unions

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The 2015 revised edition of CANA’s report Jobs After Coal: A Just Transition for New Zealand Communities was released on the 2^nd of May, in conjunction with a speech CANA organising group member Jeanette Fitzsimons gave at the May Day celebrations in Blackball.

You can download and read:

• The full Jobs After Coal Report, 2015 edition (PDF, 2.8 MB)
• A summary version of Jobs After Coal 2015 (PDF, 97 KB)

Since May 2014, when we released the original edition of this report, world coal prices have continued to drop, and in New Zealand, coal mining companies have continued to lay off workers without the slightest concern or provision for the communities they live in. This was underlined just five days after the 2015 version was released, when Solid Energy announced it was getting rid of 151 more positions at its Stockton mine.

While the mining companies and the Government offer nothing, CANA’s report addresses how communities and workers can prepare for the end of coal mining, and lays out pathways that communities and regions can follow to move away from coal and into low-carbon jobs.

When the original Jobs After Coal report was released in 2014, it got a good reception, but community leaders weren’t always ready to say positive things about it on the record. This time round, they’ve been much more ready to support the Just Transition approach we advocate.

Many local and national politicians have known for some time that we have to move away from coal, but they haven’t been willing to say so publicly for fear of being accused that they were anti-worker or anti-jobs. Now that the coal jobs are going anyway, well-researched alternative approaches are looking a lot more attractive.

Jobs After Coal has also had a lot of positive media coverage in the month since the 2015 edition was released. Here’s a selection:

Radio NZ: West Coast Considers Jobs After Mining  – which includes this quote: “Buller District Mayor Garry Howard has embraced the recommendations in the report ‘Jobs After Coal’, written by Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA), but said its success would depend on the efforts of all communities on the coast, and government buy-in.”

NZ Herald: Stockton mine job losses: ‘A painful situation’

Newstalk ZB: West Coast analysing jobs landscape

TV3: Solid Energy cuts 113 jobs at Stockton mine

The Press: Stockton Mine axes 151 jobs

The post The 2015 Revised Edition of Jobs After Coal: More Timely Than Ever appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

A great weekend with my old and dear friend Debs with whom I worked on the campaign to stop Project Aqua, the diversion of most of the low flow of the Waitaki river. We won that one, and we will win this one too! One of the precious things about this roadshow is reconnecting with friends I’ve worked with – like Mike and Joe and Robina from Mataura in the days of the lignite scare, who drove through to Invercargill.

Debs drove me over the hill to Blenheim (we talked Denniston all weekend) where I presented at the opening of the art exhibition “Oil on Canvas”, a fund raiser for the active campaign aginst deep sea oil drilling, organised by the amazing Verena Maeder.  A ready made audience and companion speakers Rod Morris, whose photos have built love and awe for the Denniston Plateau nation-wide, and entrepreneur Nick Gerritsen, about his latest project to make liqiod fuels from wood waste.

I foresee waste wood from forestry operations becoming the next scarce resource as people realise it  is our lifeline to an economy without fossil fuels. Boiler fuel, home heating,  transport fuel, even coke for steel making, and of course the ultimate finite resource is land, on which it all depends. Even with renewables we can’t keep growing forever.

Beautiful art works, all local, including one of Rod’s images of Denniston which I coveted, but wasn’t feeling rich. One that particularly took my eye was a disturbing painting called 2L8. I know in my head it probably is, but I refuse to believe it and the only way to live is to try to still make a difference.

You learn something every time you stand up to talk to a group. I’ve been singing the praises of NZ innovation LVL, a strengthened timber building material that can substitute for steel and concrete in multi-storeyed buildings – very low carbon, in fact stores carbon for the life of the building. I’ve been lamenting that Christchurch was not rebuilt in this sustainable material, partly because there is no fabricating plant here to cut the stuff to order. A voice from the back row in Takaka called out “not true. Nelson Pine opened one this week”. Turned out to be Piers McLaren, doyen forester with whom I have corresponded but never before met. Led to a useful discussion with the CEO of Nelson Pine the next day.

So Blenheim, Takaka, Motueka and Nelson – lots of great people all working in their own way on a fossil free future.

Then to Dunedin where I met up with Rosemary. We managed our “Two Ronnies” act OK at the university presentation. The Chamber of Commerce wanted a rather different slant – business opportunities in a low carbon economy. They booked quite a small room so it was a good experience for them to find it booked out a day ahead and they were squeezing people in on the night. More general public than business, but some of the latter too and I’ve heard it did make an impression on the Chamber. Back to Rosemary….

I teamed up with Jeanette again for the two Dunedin presentations on 29 and 30 July, to audiences of around 50 at each venue. The following afternoon, armed with cups of tea and sandwiches for non-stop travel, we headed to Invercargill where fellow CANA organising member Jenny Campbell had a precisely timed two days awaiting. A pot luck tea, catch-ups with fellow Southland anti-lignite campaigners and our JAC presentation followed – complete with our very own climate change sceptic in the front row. Neither Jeanette nor I needed to respond as the Invercargill audience deftly dealt with his comments.

Rosemary Penwarden, Nathan Surendran, Joe Nowak…

…Jeanette Fitzsimons and Mike Dumbar in conversation with old friends at the Invercargill event

The following morning we met with Steve Canny and others at Venture Southland for an exchange that lasted the entire morning, with an interlude to pose for the Southland Times and a TV interview with the very patient and charming Cue TV reporter. Thanks to Dave Kennedy for organising the Venture Southland meeting – their work is inspiring. I spied their speedy little electric car being delivered as we left. A couple of spare hours were filled with unexpected discussions with bank staff when Jeanette’s plastic card was swallowed up by the ATM machine, never to be returned. They were so nice. (Jeanette: So they should have been – Bank’s mistake, not mine! ) You just can’t get angry with Southlanders! We kept hearing about the next event on Jenny’s itinerary: the Environment Southland Awards. It’s big, we were told. Southlanders are not known to exaggerate, even so, we were both surprised at the scale of the evening at the Ascot Hotel – live TV, over 500 guests for a full meal and accompaniments, anyone who’s anyone there and, as is always the case down this end of Aotearoa, they all seemed to know each other. The best part of the evening was the very last prize being awarded to Jenny’s group, Southland Forest and Bird, for their remarkable 25 years of restoration and care of the yellow eyed penguin reserve, Te Rere. A very early morning at Invercargill airport completed this leg of the JAC roadshow. We look forward to being invited to other parts of the country to continue the discussion. For me, it’s about more than phasing out coal mining. It is a good place to start the necessary work we must all now participate in – to build and manage a fair and durable shift to a low carbon economy, where workers do not bear the brunt of that shift. From here, our little JAC relay looks like part of an enormous marathon. Change is emerging but we’re racing to a deadline. A just transition to a low carbon economy has to be fair and it has to be swift. We need everyone’s diverse, creative skills to keep that baton moving, run like hell, and pass it on. We have advantages many other countries could only dream about, and we look forward to taking charge of our own futures instead of being at the mercy of unjust market forces and a dying industry. It’s already happening.

I took a picture of the shiny silent mothballed briquette plant on my way home, for old times’ sake. Still think it would make a great whisky distillery

The post Jobs After Coal Roadshow Report appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Our new report released today.

It doesn’t include new mines such as Bathurst’s plans for the beautiful Dennison Plateau, where operations have stalled and 29 workers were recently laid off as the coal price has plummeted in the face of a global oversupply.

But imagine if the Government was to draw a line in the sand and state that there would be no more coal mines in Aotearoa.  If they did that today,  this would give coal mining communities the time to adjust, to plan a transition away from coal that involved the entire community, and led to a sustainable future.

This is the argument we set out in our new “Jobs After Coal” report, released today.

Our research has found that New Zealand’s coal mining communities generally have fewer full time jobs and lower per capita income than their surrounding region or district.

This is totally contrary to the coal industry’s claims of employment and prosperity.  Only two mining communities in the entire country have higher median incomes than their surrounding district and only one has higher employment.

It’s clear that coal does not bring the promised prosperity from digging up coal, coal that will ultimately end up in the sky when it’s burned, contributing to arguably the most pressing issue facing the world today:  climate change.

In our report we outline ways in which communities can transition away from coal to new sources of prosperity and jobs as international markets and climate change concerns lead the phase out of coal.

Coal is a boom and bust industry. When the bust comes, coal mining communities have been left with no support – except for plans for more boom and bust coal mines.  Over the last few years we’ve seen so many jobs lost, overnight, with families and communities thrown into chaos and facing an uncertain future.

In gathering information for our report, we called every single coalmine in the country, to find out just how many people are employed.  The final figure is 1259 jobs.

Yet the Government continues to go on about the need for coal mining jobs, pushing coal as a job creator, yet it barely blinks at the nearly 40,000 jobs lost in manufacturing in the five years to 2012.

The international situation, with record-low coal prices, and an oversupply, with countries like China and India moving to renewable energy and to cut pollution,  our coal industry is unlikely to recover any time soon.

Talk of a carbon bubble is now gaining traction as people begin to understand the idea that we have only a small ‘budget’ of carbon we can afford to emit to keep global warming below two degrees C.

Coal is a sunset industry, and fossil fuel investments will be left as stranded assets

We could pretty much consider Solid Energy as a ‘stranded asset’ these days, with banks forced to back a company that will continue to fail under the ongoing ‘perfect storm’ of low prices and the high dollar.

Over the last week we’ve seen two institutions move to divest themselves from fossil fuel interests:  the Dunedin City Council – and the Anglican Church’s New Zealand and Pacific Dominion – the first branch of the Anglican church worldwide to do so.

Jobs After Coal sets out many alternatives to mining, especially in renewable energy and an expanded use of wood. Mining skills are applicable over a wide range of different industries.  However, this transition will not happen without planning, leadership, resources, and involvement of the whole community.

We have to draw a line in the sand for the end of coal in New Zealand, then plan for the day that this happens. Involve the whole community and plan a transition that doesn’t dump people out of jobs overnight.

The sooner we prepare for a future where mining towns can determine their own paths without dependence on the vagaries of a dying industry, the better.

The post Coal communities deserve better than the “boom and bust” coal industry appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Where: Wellington

When: Thursday 22 May, 12.30-1.30pm

Venue: Victoria University of Wellington, Pipitea Campus, Rutherford House, Ground Floor, Lecture Theatre Two (RHLT2)

Speaker: Jeanette Fitzsimons, Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/782673118417557/

What’s it about:

Coal mining communities in New Zealand have recently faced major disruption, uncertainty and job losses as the industry suffers from falling prices, competition from renewable energy and mounting concern at the threat of climate change.

Globally and locally, we are on the brink of a transition from the old economy, based on fossil fuels, to a new future based on clean, renewable energy. Yet many hold on to the old for fear of job losses that will leave communities with a shattered economy and no options.

Jeanette will be launching “Jobs After Coal,” a report she has co-authored with other members of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA). The report argues that the role of coal in New Zealand’s economy is small; there are many options for jobs in the industries that will replace coal; skills of coal miners are transferable to other industries, and communities can reinvent themselves to regain a new prosperity after coal.

However, these positive outcomes depend on recognising the need for a proper and effective transition path and setting up a planned process within the community itself, including all stakeholders, with support from central and local government.

The post Jobs After Coal Report Launch, Wellington, Thursday 22 May appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.