New Zealand's cleantech change agents

Phillip Mills (photography: Jane Ussher)

Over a number of dinners and meetings, which began late last year, their concern crystallised into an informal lobby group, which has attracted support from a couple of hundred CEOs and held talks with the government around a possible taskforce.

The lobby group appears to have the ear of at least some in Government. When members of the group met Prime Minister John Key for the first time, at Villa Maria’s Mangere headquarters, Key was positive, says Mills. “He got it.” They have met Environment Minister Nick Smith and Climate Change Negotiations Minister Tim Groser. Mills says they have messages of support from a couple of hundred CEOs around the country.

Their case? That clean technology is an economic opportunity for New Zealand — a chance to achieve the sort of growth and knowledge-led economy that so many people have been banging on about, while improving the environment and enhancing New Zealand’s clean, green image. Many pieces of the jigsaw are in place. Every time you turn around another Kiwi company is doing something smart in the cleantech sector, from turning algae into energy to developing new geothermal power stations. It’s time to take the conversation on cleantech mainstream, the lobby group believes.

It comes in several flavours — cleantech and greentech are just some of the labels — but the premise is simple. The world economy grew in the 20th century on the back of a carbon economy, fuelled by cheap oil. The megatrend of the 21st century will be a low-carbon economy. The transformation that we need, the lobby group says, from oil-fired growth into clean technology, is predicted to be the largest economic transformation the world has seen since the industrial revolution.

And while countries have trouble on the world stage finding agreement on what to do about climate change, at home they’re going gangbusters to invest in clean technology. In business, the train is leaving the station and picking up speed. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) global CEO survey found three in five chief executives preparing for the impact of climate change.

What are we doing here in New Zealand? We have been locked into a debate in which one side says moving towards a low-carbon economy will mean an unpalatable cost for business, especially in the wake of the global recession. The other side sees a change coming and argues that the sooner we position ourselves, the better chance we will have to gain a competitive advantage. Bury our heads in the sand and we risk being left behind, forever locked into a cycle of low growth, sliding further and further down that often-quoted OECD wealth table like it is a greasy pole.

It has been said that consumers drive the demand to reduce carbon through choosing goods produced by companies with an eye on sustainability, while governments provide structure and policy. In the middle there is money to be made while making the world a better place. There’s a problem with that?

There is definitely fear in the business community around the cost of carbon, says PwC partner Julia Hoare. And ignorance. Hoare, who leads the company’s sustainability and climate change team, is amazed by the number of competent business people she meets who seem unaware the world is moving towards a low-carbon economy — one where carbon will be a cost on companies and economies.

“Companies are rightly worried about viability and so they are resistant to change, but when people talk about not wanting New Zealand to be a leader and developing countries not doing anything to price carbon, then that is absolute rubbish.

“Look at countries like Korea, which is racing ahead. It has introduced tax breaks for cleantech and is really focused. China might not be committing globally on emissions, but internally it has a huge focus on this area.”
New Zealand’s trading future lies with Asia, says Hoare, and we need to be cognisant of what is happening on a world stage. “At the moment we are sheltered and closing our minds.”