New Zealand to remove coal boilers from hospitals, universities by 2025

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) — Seeking to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, New Zealand on Wednesday announced that it will remove all remaining coal boilers from hospitals and tertiary institutions in the country by the end of 2025.

In a statement, the country's Climate Minister James Shaw said the move is part of new plans to speed up emissions reductions at hospitals and government departments.

“We can now guarantee an end to dirty, polluting, and unhealthy coal-powered boilers in our hospitals and universities. This means patients will be treated in hospitals that are running on clean energy, and our health care workers and students will be going to work at a place with cleaner air," said Shaw.

Under the plan, the government will spend a total of NZ$78 million (approximately over $48 million) on 38 projects, including heating and cooling, fleet electrification and efficient lighting projects across the state sector.

“The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – is the primary cause of climate change, while polluting the air, and harming health – so ensuring our places of learning and our hospitals kick this habit is the obvious choice,” Shaw said.

"The removal of the 14 remaining coal boilers that supply energy to public hospitals, across eight different sites, is set to reduce emissions in the health sector by around 203,760 tons of CO2 equivalent over the next 10 years – the equivalent of taking 8,385 cars off the road," according to his statement.

Last month, New Zealand said that its greenhouse gas emissions decreased for the second successive year in 2021.

The latest data shows gross emissions declined 0.7% over the 12 months of 2021 to 76.8 million tons, following a 3% plunge in 2020 that was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related curbs, Shaw said.

Earlier, the minister said the government was pushing for a switch to electric vehicles to “save lives by cutting air pollution.”

“Every year in New Zealand, 2,200 adults die prematurely and 13,200 children suffer from asthma because of air pollution caused by diesel burnt in cars, trucks, and buses,” he said.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid