Government turns its back on transport alternatives

The Sustainable Energy Forum (SEF) has criticized the New Zealand (NZ) government’s plans to increase state highway funding and make highway construction the centerpiece of transport policy. Highway construction, SEF said, is not the way to improve the country’s transportation system, as the International Energy Agency has predicted an oil supply crunch to arrive by 2012. Also criticized by the SEF was NZ’s decision to disband the Vehicle Energy and Renewables Group (VERG), which was set up in 2008 to explore ways in which NZ could promote the uptake of low-carbon fuels and vehicle technologies, focusing especially on electric vehicles. The government’s changes to transport policies will lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, SEF asserted, as well as more dependence on fossil fuels, and a transport system that is more hostile than ever to alternative forms of transport. (March 18, 2009)