The Government's announcement today of a deal with NZ Steel to significantly reduce the emissions of their Glenbrook site has been largely welcomed by climate activists.
However, activists and opposition politicians alike have taken issue with what they see to be a "corporate welfare" approach to emissions reduction.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the project, in which the Government would partially fund to the tune of $140 million an electric arc furnace, "dwarfs anything we have done to date" in emissions reduction.
It would reduce NZ Steel's emissions by almost half and the country's by 1% or 800,000 tonnes annually.
India Logan-Riley, a climate activist from rangitahi-led climate action group Te Ara Whatu, said: "It is nice to get good news after the climate policy bonfire earlier in the year and very little for climate justice in the budget."
"NZ's biggest ever emissions reduction project" will eliminate 1% of the country’s annual emissions, equivalent to taking all the cars in Christchurch off the road. (Source: 1News)
But they raised concern over the fairness of the Government subsidising a high-profit, high-emissions industry.
"Companies that have profited from fuelling the climate crisis should not be looking to taxpayers to bail them out when they should be using their own profits to make the shift.
"If the Government is going to make financial contributions then it would be sensible for the public to expect a degree of control or ownership of these corporations.
"There has to be future accountability for these companies."
Mike Smith, of the Irirangi Climate Action Group, shared Logan-Riley's concerns around the responsibilities of private corporations.
"While the installation of a new furnace is a step in the right direction ... it is important to closely examine the details of this announcement."
Smith said it's important the projected emissions reductions are rigorously assessed and independently verified for accuracy, and that companies take some responsibility in reducing emissions on their own.
"I think the companies [have] got to step up and take a greater financial responsibility here for their carbon emissions.
"I'm a little bit concerned about corporate welfare," Smith said, "particularly at a time when people in New Zealand are suffering from high inflation and cost of living hikes that we should be subsidising big business."
"If we're going to be able to subsidising anyone, I think it should be the poor ... not the rich."
Concern that the Government's dishing out "corporate welfare" has also been expressed by ACT Party leader David Seymour.
"Emissions won’t be curbed by this policy," Seymour said.
"They'll simply change where emissions come from. New Zealand's emissions are capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme meaning any emissions saved by this project will occur somewhere else."
National Party Leader Christopher Luxon also finds it concerning that the Government is subsidising a transition to cleaner production processes for a company that he said should pay for that change itself.
"All of a sudden it [the Government] can find $140 million as a subsidy" for a "large, foreign, multinational company" which made $900 million in profits this year, Luxon said.
In the plan's announcement, Hipkins defended the Government's partnership with businesses to cut emissions.
"Our partnership with NZ Steel shows we can tackle the challenge of decarbonising even our hardest to abate and largest emitting industries. This investment would not happen without government support," he said.
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