All the Green Tech in China.
Why are we still backing fossil fuels?
Sunday was a lazy day.
I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.
As you might know yesterday it was the Israeli Ambassador. I heard some of things he was saying, there was no need to imagine what he really meant - he was saying it - and it was repugnant. If you watched any of it you’ll know what I mean.
I couldn’t bring myself to write about it. Not that it wasn’t worthy of writing about, it certainly is and I’ve written quite a bit about Gaza and Israel. I’m sure you all know what I think about the situation, and who’s responsible for the vast majority of the killing.
But after the last couple of weeks of bad news I didn’t want to spend the day pouring over the words of that man to top it all off.
So I didn’t.
I mucked around on social media, checked out some of the new Taylor Swift album to see what all the fuss was about, quite liked it.
Watched the new Jimmy Carr Netflix special which was his standard stuff but with addition of some surprisingly sensitive material on consent. Usually he’s mostly known for one liners, but I liked the addition of some personal material about his becoming a dad and the honesty of his messages about respecting women.
Come 6pm I figured I’d better have a look at the news to get an idea of what was going on in the world. Ugh - the lead story was about National loosening lending regulations.
You might have expected such coverage to include a to and fro between the coalition and the opposition, or possibly budgeting services that have to pick up the pieces. Instead it was National MPs on one side and a lender, who looked as if he might have worked as a bouncer, on the other. Both singing the praise of deregulation.
Labour’s Commerce and Consumer Affairs spokesperson Arena Williams said “It’s important that New Zealanders can access safe, responsible and affordable credit. Kiwis can expect less protection from loan sharks and unaffordable debt as a result of today’s announcement.”
Another article caught my eye, on the boom in Green technology being produced in China. TVNZ haven’t uploaded a clip but I found the original report from the BBC. The following video should begin from the point (1:56) which 1 News broadcast:
So just how significant is China’s investment in Green Tech?
“China's $890bn investment in clean-energy sectors is almost as large as total global investments in fossil fuel supply in 2023 – and similar to the GDP of Switzerland or Turkey. Including the value of production, clean-energy sectors contributed 11.4tn yuan ($1.6tn) to the Chinese economy in 2023, up 30% year-on-year” - Carbonbrief.org.
“China produces 80 percent of the world's solar panels — compared with the United States' 2 percent — and makes about two-thirds of the world's electric vehicles, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries” - Washington Post.
The US and the EU believe that China is trying to save its economy by producing cut-price, state-subsidised green technology to sell to the world. They say it’s driving down the cost of solar panels and other emerging technology and driving Western firms out of business.
China says its success is due to innovation, not subsidies and that there’s a demand for their products as countries transition from fossil fuels to more climate-friendly sources of energy.
Which is a good thing, right?
Western countries may complain about state support in China, but that’s a bit rich. For example, the sacred “free market” is currently tilted against Chinese manufacturers with a 25% tariff in the US on their Electric Vehicles (EVs).
“In 2018, Trump imposed, and Biden has since continued, a special 25 percent tax on Chinese-made autos, on top of the ordinary 2.5 percent tax on foreign-made cars. That has so far prevented BYD and its Chinese peers from trying to enter the US market.”
Chinese manufacturers produce as many EVs as the next five leading producers combined.
Not only are China producing an awful lot of EVs they’re also consuming a lot of them too.
At the same time that China is becoming the dominant player in Green Tech we seem to be hitching our wagon to the sabre rattlers who feel threatened by the ongoing growth of their economic power.
You know, our traditional partners, the ones who’d prefer us to carry on and keep using fossil fuels. The same ones that aren’t too keen on our PM’s favourite social media platform.
According to the bill’s author, Texas Republican representative Michael McCaul, it “protects Americans and especially America’s children from the malign influence of Chinese propaganda on the app TikTok.”
Ok, but who’s going to keep them safe from US propaganda? Many in that country seem to believe in some Cowboys and Indians fantasy where people from places like Latin America or China are the ‘baddies’, and the US is the sheriff, keeping order.
The Americans have concerns that the app might be spying on us and collecting our data. Probably best that nobody tells them about Google and Facebook.
I put a poll on X (formerly Twitter) asking “Which demand from the US would Luxon find harder? Abandoning our Nuclear Free policy, or giving up TikTok?”
As you can probably imagine the results were pretty one sided, with 96% of respondents indicating that giving up TikTok would be a bigger hardship for Luxon. Harder than ditching the Nuclear Free policy that many in Aotearoa hold so dear.
But before we take drastic action like banning TikTok our government is busy unwinding and removing the incentives for people to move to EVs in Aotearoa.
As you can read in this 1 New article from a week ago, “Costs have ramped up for electric vehicle drivers this month. Owners of battery-powered EVs are now liable to pay road user charges of $76 per 1000km, the same rate as diesel-powered cars and trucks…
The cost of driving an EV rises substantially with road user charges, but it's still cheaper than operating a petrol car.”
But it’s the loss of the Clean Car Discount Scheme, which the government has cancelled, which will most hamper the move away from fossil fuels.
Terry Collins, a principal adviser at the AA, said “One of the biggest barriers to EV ownership is the higher capital cost when purchasing… We're not at parity yet. So, we need to be incentivising, like other countries, the uptake of EVs.
I think the road user charges are a bit of noise in the background compared to the discount, which was having a much bigger impact.”
I’m not going to spend time here discussing climate change and why we should be moving away from fossil fuels. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this then you’re already aware of how important, and urgent, it is that we reduce emissions.
Given that, it’s hard to understand why our government is making it more expensive for consumers to transition to EVs and more expensive to run them once they have.
So why are we going down the wrong track?
Is it the interests of Big Tobacco or Big Oil?
The political pull to stand in lockstep behind the foreign policies of our traditional allies, giving those precedence over the relationship we have with our largest trading partner?
Are these changes simply to attract the votes of small business owners, or those reluctant to move away from fossil fuels because they have established businesses? Like the Loan Sharks who want to lend money to people who can’t afford it or dairy owners that want to keep selling cigarettes to people, even though it will kill some of them?
Or is it just one in the eye for we lefty liberals?
How dare we tell them to give up their 4WD land cruiser for an EV when they do the school run? Everyone knows pick-up parking is a battle zone.
Is it that doing things which are good for the planet, or listening to scientists, is off brand for the parties in the coalition? That sticking it to those who are trying to drag us forward and address the realities of our time, is worth more votes that doing the things that are right?
What do you think about our government getting rid of measures to move people away from fossil fuels?
Abandoning investment in transport solutions that don’t involve private motor vehicles? Making it easier for new coal mining to take place? Doing the barest of minimums to meet our international climate change commitments?
Or politically, unquestioningly aligning ourselves with nations who see the rapid expansion of green energy alternatives as a threat, rather than a necessary step towards protecting the planet for future generations?
This track seemed appropriate today, hope you like it if you haven’t heard it before.
Here’s a classic re the ongoing deception and ignorance of this Nat govt - Just had to add this piece from the Newsroom this morning - “Perhaps the biggest irony of all can be found by flicking through Hansard records. There, you’ll find speeches by Bishop, time and again while in opposition, railing against the previous government’s use of urgency, and calling for the use of proper process.
You’d think the Chris Bishop of a year ago would have a lot to say about the Chris Bishop of today.)
Great writing Nick. I loved watching the story on China investing in renewable energy as despite their self interest any moves in that direction is good for our planet. The US and EU whinging about undercutting their industries is classic - bottom line for USA is profit for big corporations and the rest be damned (a bit like us nowadays). The money defines the direction of US politics, hence the support of Israeli overkill, Big Oil etc