CLIMATE CHANGE - TOWARDS ADAPTATION Reining in emissions from industrial process heat

Regional councils will for the first time be expressly required to take the cumulative effects of discharges from greenhouse gases into account when considering applications for resource consents, as a result of new regulations taking aim at greenhouse gas emissions caused by industrial process heat.

Hard on the heels of the Government’s decision in May to remove all remaining coal boilers from hospitals and tertiary institutions by the end of 2025,17 Mfe issued the National Policy Statement for Greenhouse Gases from Industrial Process Heat (NPS-GGIPH) and National Environmental Standards for Greenhouse Gases from Industrial Process Heat (NESGGIPH) in July, which both entered into force on 27 July 2023.

Part of New Zealand’s transition to a low emission economy, the instruments apply to emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired heat devices. Together, they will operate on a number of levels, from greater guidance and new responsibilities for regional councils, to restrictions or prohibitions on certain activities, notably around the use of coal boilers.

The statement

The key objective of the NPS-GGIPH is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by regulating the discharges to air of greenhouse gases from the production of industrial process heat in order to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change

With industrial process heat contributing to approximately 8% of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions, this will provide an opportunity to reduce New Zealand’s domestic greenhouse gases output and limit the future effects of process heat on the environment.

Policies

1. Discharges to air of greenhouse gases from heat devices are reduced or eliminated by avoiding discharges from certain new heat devices and restricting discharges from certain types of existing heat devices.

2. Regional councils must consider the cumulative effects of discharges of greenhouse gases when considering resource consent applications for discharges from heat devices.

3. Holders of resource consents for discharge to air of greenhouse gases from heat devices must update relevant emissions plans to reflect technological developments and best practice.

New responsibilities for regional councils

Every regional plan must include a policy (or something of similar wording) that, before granting resource consent for the discharge of greenhouse gases to air from heat devices, requires a regional council to:

(a) Consider the total discharges of greenhouse gases from all heat devices on the site that the application relates to; and

(b) Recognise the cumulative effect of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, and that any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will contribute to mitigating climate change.

Regional councils will now have clearer guidelines when making resource consent decisions for process heat and the Minister for the Environment can request a report from any council outlining the number of resources consents granted for process heat, the volume and extent of discharges of greenhouse gases from the production of process heat and other consenting conditions.

This policy ensures that councils will factor in climate change impacts and regulate fossil-fuel burning devices in a nationally consistent way.

The standards

The NES-GGIPH contains activity standards for the discharge of greenhouse gases from new and existing heat devices that burn coal and other fossil fuels. Depending on the age of the heat burning device, the temperature of the heat emitted, and the type of fuel burnt, the activity will be classified as either a restricted discretionary activity or a prohibited activity.

Notably, the standards prohibit discharges of greenhouse gas emissions from new low to medium temperature (less than 300 degrees Celsius) coal boilers immediately and from existing coal boilers after 2037. The standards also require resource consent to be held for new and existing fossil fuel boilers that emit 500 tonnes and above of CO2-e per year, per site, and requires resource consent applicants to prepare and implement greenhouse gas emission plans (which must be reviewed by a suitably qualified person) and set out actions to reduce emissions.18

Resource consent durations are limited to 20 years or less for activities relating to a new heat device, and 10 years or less for an existing heat device (if the existing heat device burns coal and delivers heat below 300 degrees, it must end before 1 January 2037).

If a discharge is an existing permitted activity under a regional rule that has legal effect, it remains a permitted activity under that rule for 18 months after 27 July 2023.