May 09, 2019
Taranaki investment in alternate energy future
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says early action is key to ensuring communities are not adversely affected by the shift away from fossil fuels.
The Prime Minister was in Taranaki yesterday for the Just Transition Summit, looking at what needs to be done as fossil fuel exploration and extraction slows over coming decades.
She believes the region has accepted the implications of the end of any new offshore exploration permits.
"So now the conversation is how do we transition the economy here and also how do we find new technologies that will provide our energy future so green hydrogen and so on, so it's an exciting discussion to be having but I understand it can also feel like a big shift but as long as we make the shift early we will reduce the amount of harm for people who rely on that industry," she says.
At the summit Jacinda Ardern announced a $27 million National New Energy Development Centre will be set up in Taranaki to look at emerging clean energy options, and an additional $20 million would be in the Budget for a new science research fund for energy technology.
Copyright © 2019, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com