- Hon James Shaw
- 2025 will see final shift away from coal in hospitals and tertiary institutions
- Over $78 million invested in 38 projects to decarbonise the state sector – the equivalent of taking 21,100 cars off the road
- Health sector decarbonisation gets the lion’s share (over $61m)
All remaining coal boilers will be removed from hospitals and tertiary institutions by the end of 2025, Climate Minister James Shaw has announced, as part of new plans to speed up emissions reductions at hospitals and government departments.
“We can now guarantee an end to dirty, polluting, and unhealthy coal-powered boilers in our hospitals and universities. This means patients will be treated in hospitals that are running on clean energy, and our health care workers and students will be going to work at a place with cleaner air, says Climate Minister James Shaw.
“In total over $78 million will co-fund 38 new government decarbonisation projects, including heating and cooling, fleet electrification and efficient lighting projects across the state sector, to accelerate the shift we must make away from fossil fuels.
“The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – is the primary cause of climate change, while polluting the air, and harming health – so ensuring our places of learning and our hospitals kick this habit is the obvious choice,” said James Shaw.
The removal of the 14 remaining coal boilers that supply energy to public hospitals, across eight different sites, is set to reduce emissions in the health sector by around 203,760 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the next 10 years – the equivalent of taking 8385 cars off the road.
A total of $61.729 million is going to health sector decarbonisation projects. This includes $38 million to support Te Whatu Ora’s new $99 million plan to reduce stationary energy emissions across New Zealand hospitals by around 230,000 tonnes over ten years.
Energy Minister Megan Woods says health is one of the largest emitters of carbon emissions in the public sector, and these projects will help to bring these emissions down, faster.
“It’s great Middlemore Hospital is championing the kind of changes we want to see, with a range of decarbonisation projects including, a chiller replacement, an LED lighting upgrade, and a heat pump that utilises waste heat to significantly reduce the hospital’s gas and electrical consumption,” Megan Woods said.
“This is the kind of energy transition we need to take us toward a low-emissions economy,” Megan Woods said.
“Middlemore’s gas boiler project alone – will see 1,866 tonnes of carbon emissions reductions per annum. That’s equivalent to 265 passengers flying from Auckland to London and back,” James Shaw said.
“In total these 38 projects are set to reduce the emissions of the public sector by around 512,775 tonnes of carbon emissions over the next ten years – the equivalent of taking 21,100 cars off the road – or more than every car in Queenstown,” said James Shaw.
The funding is allocated from the Government’s $220 million State Sector Decarbonisation Fund which supports the Carbon Neutral Government Programme and is administered by EECA (the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority).
