Driving Sustainable Growth: Opportunities for New Zealand’s Economy – new report – Image: Sulthan Auliya/Unsplash
New Zealand could boost its economy by more than $22 billion per year by 2035, while strengthening productivity, energy security, and long-term resilience, according to a major new business-led report released by the NZ Sustainable Business Council.
The report, Driving Sustainable Growth: Opportunities for New Zealand’s Economy, commissioned by the Sustainable Business Council (SBC), a business network of more than 130 businesses, and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC), finds that a focused shift toward an innovation-driven, productivity-led economy, underpinned by affordable and plentiful renewable energy and stable policy settings, could deliver an estimated $22 billion increase in GDP per year by 2035, rising to more than $33 billion per year by 2050, compared to an economy that only relies on the current carbon price path.
At the same time, the findings show pursuing this sustainable growth pathway would reduce national emissions by an additional 6% per year by 2035 and 22% per year by 2050 compared to the same scenario.
SBC Chief Executive Mike Burrell says the report challenges often held assumptions that sustainable economic growth and emissions reduction are competing priorities.
“What this research clearly shows is that the same action that is needed to lift the New Zealand’s lagging productivity in the form of electrification, digital technology, innovation, and efficient and abundant renewable energy, is also exactly what is needed to strengthen our international competitiveness, increase our resilience, and reduce our emissions as a country.”
“For New Zealanders this is not just abstract GDP growth, it’s an opportunity that translates into higher living standards over time, more resilient jobs and industries, and lower exposure to volatile energy prices.”
“But critically it’s coupled with a key insight that the binding constraint is not a lack of technology, ambition or investment appetite, it is policy coherence and certainty over the medium term that is necessary to achieve economy-wide change,” says Burrell.
SBC and CLC acknowledge the report comes amid ongoing global uncertainty, including energy market volatility caused by the conflict in the Middle East, cost-of-living pressures, and increasing severe weather and climate related disruption.
“It’s during periods of uncertainty that countries taking a disciplined, long-term approach to economic foundations tend to emerge stronger. Against this current challenging context, we believe it is more important than ever to be focusing on our long term growth and resilience as a country,” says Burrell.
Climate Leaders Coalition Convenor and Genesis Energy CEO Malcolm Johns says the opportunity identified in the report goes beyond near-term gains.
“The economic opportunity before us is not about small improvements on the margins, it is about a legacy New Zealand can leave for future generations,” says Johns.
“We have a genuine opportunity to build an economy that is more productive, more resilient and better positioned for all New Zealanders, present and future, while simultaneously contributing to one of the biggest challenges of our time – climate change. Realising the opportunity before us requires ambition, collaboration and a shared long-term vision.”
The report outlines a set of 10 key recommendations for joint action by business and government, focused on:
- providing clear, enduring signals for New Zealand’s future energy system,
- accelerating electrification and digital uptake across key sectors,
- supporting the scale-up and commercialisation of innovation, and
- strengthening market-based incentives that reward productivity-enhancing investment.
Importantly, the recommendations build on strategies and evidence already in place across successive governments and are focused on the first phase of the opportunity before us, setting a foundation for sustainable growth and greater resilience over coming decades.
SBC Chief Executive Burrell says the report shows the task now is not further diagnosis, but action.
“We must commit to a long-term horizon coupled with medium-term action, while maintaining a shared and enduring focus across all the portfolios necessary for economic growth.”
“Doing so will not only unlock a materially significant economic prize but will help us bend our emissions curve even further – a win win for New Zealand.”
The findings of the report are based on economic modelling, international evidence and case study analysis. They reflect the views of more than 150 of New Zealand’s leading businesses, collectively representing more than 45% of private sector GDP.
A full copy of the report can be found here.
NAN/SBC 2 April 26
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