Christina Hood: Getting to net zero and what comes next

<p>New Zealand should be one of the easiest places in the world to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions and we should be planning for net negative, the next step after that, says Christina Hood.</p><p>Hood, the head of energy and climate policy consultancy Compass Climate, spoke to interest.co.nz in a new episode of our <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/of-interest-podcasts" target="_blank"><i><strong>Of Interest podcast</strong></i></a><i><strong>. </strong></i>Hood is also the former head of the climate unit at theInternational Energy Agency in Paris.</p><p>In the podcast she spoke about the push to net zero by 2050; addressing issues such as what it actually means, what the practicalities of it are, and what it'll mean for the lives and livelihoods of New Zealanders and the economy.</p><p>"I think New Zealand is one of the easiest places in the world to get to net zero because of our abundant renewable energy resources, [and] because of the amount of land that could be restored to indigenous forests. A lot of our CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions since preindustrial times are from land clearance not from fossil fuel use. And we see in Tairāwhiti a lot of land that should never have been cleared, so there's a lot of trees that can go back. We have all of that potential, it's totally doable," Hood says.</p><p>"We also have a legal framework in place through our Climate Change Response Act and that sets stepping stones towards 2050 to try and keep governments on track. National has firmly committed to the interim milestones. We have carbon budgets for every five years that step down to meet the net zero target and they've said they're committed to those. And that's actually where things are going to bite because those short term targets hold politicians' feet to the fire in terms of acting now, not just making plans for later."</p><p>But, Hood says, when and if we get to net zero we can't rest on our laurels.</p><p>"If we do [get there] it's not the end of the story. It's just a particular point that we pass t