Ministry for the Environment CEO flying from Hawke’s Bay to Wellington once a week

Ministry for the Environment chief executive James Palmer flies between Hawke’s Bay and Wellington about once a week. Photo / Warren Buckland

The chief executive of the Ministry for the Environment has come under fire for flying to Wellington once a week from his home in Hawke’s Bay while the ministry advises New Zealanders to reduce the number of flights they’re taking to reduce emissions.

The Herald can reveal that the ministry’s newly appointed chief executive and secretary, James Palmer, is regularly travelling by air for his role, in which he advises Government on environmental policy.

Documents released under the Official Information Act show Palmer travels between Hawke’s Bay and Wellington about once a week at his personal expense, mostly by air and sometimes by electric vehicle.

The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) said Palmer stood by his regular air travel as he offset the emissions he was creating.

“It is not the ministry’s position that New Zealanders should stop air travel. Many New Zealanders with national roles travel regularly.

“Mr Palmer carefully weighed this before accepting his leadership role at the ministry. He considers the emissions from his personal travel to be an acceptable impact, after being offset through native afforestation credits, to enable him to apply his skills and experience to the national challenges of climate change, resource management and freshwater reforms.”

The carbon footprint of a roundtrip from Napier to Wellington produces 70 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions over a distance of 540 kilometres, according to Air New Zealand’s calculator.

Palmer’s travel emissions are not included in the company emissions listed on the ministry’s website because he pays for them himself.

Palmer has been appointed for five years, from March 1 this year, and is unable to move to Wellington full time because of “family commitments and responsibilities”.

Act Party climate change spokesman Simon Court accused Palmer of hypocrisy.

“If bureaucrats are going to lecture Kiwis, they should lead by example. Instead, they tell us what to do while flying and driving around the country.

“This is next-level hypocrisy.”

The ministry was criticised earlier this year for spending $913,000 on flights over 11 months while advising the public on its website to “walk, cycle or take public transport wherever possible”.

It spent a further $97,225 on taxis, shuttles and Ubers, with only $251 being spent on public transport.

New Zealand’s aviation emissions are under the spotlight after a new paper published yesterday highlighted that they were particularly high and were on a rapid growth path that was incompatible with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

None of New Zealand’s current efforts against carbon emissions were strong enough, given its ranking as fourth-worst in the world for domestic aviation emissions, it said.

350 Aotearoa climate campaigner Adam Currie said the ministry was not doing what was needed to cut climate pollution.

“The real issue here is not one man’s flights – it’s MfE’s utter failure to boldly address the climate crisis with the depth and urgency required.

“MfE needs to be pulling all the meaningful levers it has on climate, hard.

“This also shows the need for investment in low-carbon, regional trains that get us around to where we live, work and play.”

The ministry’s website acknowledges its main source of emissions is air travel and says it has prioritised this as a focus area for organisational emissions reductions.

It had spent $1685.22 excluding GST on flights for Palmer as of May 1 – not including his personal travel from Hawke’s Bay to Wellington.

Environment Minister David Parker would not comment on the matter.