NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand / Politics

Budget 2023 breakdown: Climate change package expands EV charging, public transport, lower energy costs

Michael  Neilson
By Michael Neilson
Senior political reporter, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
18 May, 2023 02:32 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Finance Minister Grant Robertson will need to be on top of his game to land one of the most difficult Budget balancing acts New Zealand has seen for years. Join us live from 2pm for the delivery of Budget 2023 with expert analysis and commentary. Video / NZ Herald

The key highlights:

  • Extension of 20 hours Early Childhood Education to include 2-year-olds - $1.2b
  • Abolition of $5 prescription co-payment - $619m
  • Cheaper public transport for children - $327m
  • $71b in infrastructure spending
  • Inflation forecast to stay higher, for longer
  • Net core Crown debt hits $181b

New climate-focused initiatives include expanding the electric vehicle charging network across the country with public facilities in every town with more than 2000 people.

It also includes expanding free public transport, funding to make 100,000 homes more energy efficient and encouraging the uptake of renewable energy including hydrogen power.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It builds on a pre-Budget announcement of $300 million to the New Zealand Green Investment Finance Ltd, taking its pool of capital to $700m.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the initiatives were primarily paid for through Climate Emergency Response Fund, which is largely funded by polluters through the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Shaw said the climate crisis was fundamentally linked to the cost-of-living crisis.

“We are addressing these dual challenges by investing in affordable public transport, insulating thousands more homes nationwide, and improving energy resilience in local communities,” Shaw said.

“Tackling climate change, with measures like free public transport for children, also helps to ease living costs, reduce emissions and deliver for future generations.”

The Government planned to partner with the private sector to build thousands of new EV chargers across the country.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This will expand the growing national network of EV charging hubs – each containing up to 20 chargers – to up to 23 hubs.

“This will see charging hubs every 150–200 kilometres on main highways, a public charger for every 20-40 EVs in urban areas, and public charging at community facilities for all settlements with 2000 or more people,” Wood said.

Funding for the EV network expansion is $120m over four years.

The Government would also provide $30m over three years for clean heavy vehicle grants.

Other initiatives included increasing energy efficiency in homes and encouraging renewable energy uptake.

Energy Minister Megan Woods said just over $400m will be spent over the next four years to fund heating and insulation retrofits in over 100,000 homes – reducing electricity usage by 16 per cent on average.

Woods said it would help make homes warmer, healthier and cheaper to heat while increasing energy resilience and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

The retrofit programme would deliver 26,500 per year over the next four years, Woods said.

The Government would also fund five million LED lightbulbs and energy-efficient hot water heaters.

Woods said after this programme had finished the Government would have funded over 200,000 retrofits.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

People living on Rekohu/Chatham Islands were also in for some big power savings, with the Government committing to funding a wind turbine and battery project on the island.

Due to reliance on expensive sources such as diesel generators electricity costs on the islands are four times the average in New Zealand. This initiative could more than halve costs, saving households about $1445 a year.

Other major initiatives on the adaptation side include $6 billion in initial funding for a National Resilience Plan to focus on building back better from recent weather events. This was on top of a $71b infrastructure plan over the next five years, with a focus on resilience.

This would also support areas like Westport, for example, which are at risk from floods, storms and sea level rise.

Woods said $100m had also been set aside for a green hydrogen rebate - $32.5m for the first four years.

“We’re kick-starting early adoption of hydrogen by subsidising businesses to bridge the price gap between fossil fuels and green hydrogen, starting with Southland,” Woods said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“This initiative will help make hydrogen a financially viable option.

“A green hydrogen rebate will support a small number of early adopters in hard-to-abate industries to reduce their emissions by 150,000 tonnes - equivalent to cancelling out the emissions of hundreds of trucks.

“This Government support will move Southland closer to a renewable energy industry which diversifies the economy, and increases the region’s resilience.”

Budget 2023 is also boosting the money available to the pioneering green investor, New Zealand Green Investment Finance to invest in climate solutions while attracting private capital.is

“The range of measures taken by the Government to date are starting to bend the curve on our emissions,” Shaw said.

“These new climate initiatives add to those announced in the CERF last year. Together they will start to make a real difference in reducing our emissions and prove that action on climate can be done while also reducing costs on households.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“The measures in Budget 2023 will not only help achieve climate goals but cut household bills so that families and whānau can thrive.”

Today’s initiatives come on top of $300m previously announced for the New Zealand Green Investment Finance Ltd, taking its pool of capital to $700m and making NZGIF one of the largest direct investors in New Zealand focused on climate change.

Over the past four years, NZGIF had invested in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, solar power in schools, and electric buses.

“This capital investment will support existing and future projects, including transport, process heat, infrastructure and early-stage companies,” Shaw said.

“It will also open up new parts of the market and enable NZGIF to attract larger sums of private capital.”

As at June 2022, the total estimated lifetime emissions reductions of its investments was 580,000 to 710,000 tonnes of CO2e. That was equivalent to 480,000 to 590,000 homes’ energy use for one year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

About $100m from Budget 2023 was also already committed to the Crown’s repayable grant for the Clean Car Discount.

The scheme had exceeded industry and Government projections, with 20 per cent of all new passenger car sales being electric in 2022, a substantial increase from 8 per cent in 2021.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Politics

Politics

Govt adds 2 years to prison sentences for assaults on first responders, prison officers

29 Jun 06:24 AM
Super Rugby

Moana Pasifika’s owners 'strongly reject' misuse of public funding claims amid probe

28 Jun 04:55 AM
Premium
Opinion

Fran O'Sullivan: Luxon shines on global stage but has work to do at home

27 Jun 09:00 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Politics

Govt adds 2 years to prison sentences for assaults on first responders, prison officers

Govt adds 2 years to prison sentences for assaults on first responders, prison officers

29 Jun 06:24 AM

The announcement comes as the Government's tougher sentencing rules come into effect.

Moana Pasifika’s owners 'strongly reject' misuse of public funding claims amid probe

Moana Pasifika’s owners 'strongly reject' misuse of public funding claims amid probe

28 Jun 04:55 AM
Premium
Fran O'Sullivan: Luxon shines on global stage but has work to do at home

Fran O'Sullivan: Luxon shines on global stage but has work to do at home

27 Jun 09:00 PM
Premium
Simon Wilson: 'Families are facing bankruptcy' - oyster farmer's desperate plea to council

Simon Wilson: 'Families are facing bankruptcy' - oyster farmer's desperate plea to council

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP