09/09/2026
Public Power, Clean Water, Polluters Pay: Alliance pitches “just transition” in Environment policy
The Alliance Party says Aotearoa New Zealand should stop treating economic growth as the main measure of national progress, and instead judge government policy by whether it improves people’s lives while protecting the environment.
The proposal is at the core of the Alliance’s new Environmental, Climate, and Sustainable Economy Policy, which sets out a vision for a “cooperative, ecological economy”.
Alliance environment spokesperson and Christchurch Central candidate Greg Byrnes says environmental and economic policy can no longer be treated as separate issues.
“An economy can be growing on paper while natural resources are depleted, ecosystems are damaged, and communities carry the wider costs,”
“We need to ask whether people are better off, and are we leaving a healthy environment for future generations?”
The Alliance proposes moving towards a Genuine Progress Index, or GPI, as a central measure of national progress, alongside environmental auditing and true-cost accounting.
The GPI would take account of environmental health, public health and wellbeing, social equality, economic security, public services, unpaid caring and community work, and the interests of future generations.
Mr Byrnes says government decisions need to be judged on their real social and environmental consequences, not simply on whether they increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The policy also proposes:
a polluter-pays principle requiring those responsible for environmental damage to meet the full cost of prevention and repair;
the “right to repair” and a move towards a zero-waste, circular economy;
100 percent public ownership of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and retail with a focus on renewables;
replacing the Emissions Trading Scheme with a carbon tax, with revenue directed towards renewable energy, public transport, and emissions reduction;
keeping water infrastructure and services in public ownership, with stronger controls on water pollution; and
prohibiting mining in national parks, conservation areas, and other protected public land.
Mr Byrnes says deteriorating freshwater quality including rivers and groundwater shows why urgent environmental action is necessary.
He says environmental change must not come at the expense of workers and communities.
“We know parts of our economy still depend on finite and extractive resources, but multinational corporations cannot be trusted to look after either the environment or their workers when those industries reach the end of the road. As part of a Just Transition, the government must retrain and redeploy workers, invest in alternative industries and support communities affected by change.”
The Alliance proposes bringing extractive industries into public ownership as they are progressively wound down, with revenue used for environmental restoration, worker retraining, redeployment, and regional investment. Mr Byrnes says the basic principle of the Alliance policy is straightforward.
“Our economy must serve people and communities, and it has to operate within the ecological limits of the planet.”
Mr Byrnes is a former regional councillor on Environment Canterbury (2022–2025), and was chair of the Regional Biodiversity & Biosecurity Committee during 2023.
He is a professional environmentalist and spent twelve years as general manager of Tūhaitara Coastal Park, a 750 ha coastal wetland and dune area in North Canterbury.
The full policy can be read here: https://allianceparty.nz/alliance-environment-climate-sustainable-economy-policy/
