New Zealand has the potential to be a world leader in innovative clean energy.

How can we emerge from COVID-19 more resilient and continue to accelerate a successful global energy transition? We would like to once again thank everyone who participated in our two COVID-19 surveys issued at the end of March. We are delighted to share initial thinking on four different, plausible scenarios that have been preliminarily identified as most relevant and challenging to our community.

In light of the current COVID-19 situation, the Government is looking to us for advice on the economic effects of the outbreak and on what can be done to better support businesses. On top of the announced package, we are seeking your input on what additional policies could support energy businesses and the wider New Zealand economy.

Today, the Minister of Energy and Resources Hon Dr Megan Woods addressed a full room at our annual BEC breakfast at NZX Limited in Wellington. The Minister looked back on 2019 and outlined her energy objectives for 2020. Part of the agenda will be the development of a hydrogen roadmap for New Zealand.

Merry Christmas from the BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) team, David, Debbie and Tina. Have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year. Thanks for reading our newsletter, we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it. Find our last energy sector update for the year below. We’ll be back with our next update in February 2020.

Today, the BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC), along with businesses, academia, government and non-government organisations will launch two plausible scenarios of New Zealand's energy future to 2060.

Earlier this month, the 24th World Energy Congress (WEC24) took place in Abu Dhabi with the theme “Energy for Prosperity”. The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) and its Young Energy Profesionals Network (YEPN) were joining the four-day interactive programme debating critical issues currently faced by the global energy industry leaders. The event was attended by over 15,000 people, including 4000 delegates, 250 speakers, 70 ministers and 500 CEOs.

New Zealand stays in Global top 10 for energy balance and is the only non-EU country to consistently rank in the global top 10 for balancing sustainability, affordability and security in energy. This result is testament to a well-functioning energy market, strong policies and active efforts in the energy transition. In a new evolution of the index, historic trends in each dimension are now compared to a baseline year - 2000 - to give a more in-depth picture of national policies.

Energy infrastructure assets are designed and built to last for decades. These assets do not exist and function in a vacuum. It is only natural that changes in technology, business models, and government policies will occur over their lifetime. Previously, these changes were simply an evolution of the existing mode of producing, delivering and consuming energy. What is happening today in the energy world is a paradigm shift, characterized by new values of sustainability, flexibility and affordability, enabled by a completely new way of producing, delivering, and consuming energy.

We are delighted to tell you that we have bid to host the 2021 World Energy Week here in Wellington. We will be competing against the World Energy Council (WEC) member committee from Kazakhstan. The voting process for all WEC member committees will open on 8 August and will close at the Executive Assembly plenary at the World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi on 8 September. If successful, we will host one of the biggest Energy Conference from 1 to 4 November 2021.