How to decrease our diesel dependency

Friday, 26 June 2026

Julie Anne Genter is the Green Party transport spokesperson and MP for Rongotai

OPINION: Switching to clean renewable energy to power our transport has always been an easy win for New Zealand, and an example of when doing the right thing for the climate and air quality also makes complete economic and financial sense. Renewable energy can also help to ease the cost-of-living, especially when it’s applied to public transport.

There’s been a lot of talk this week about the need for us to make public transport more affordable. What has been missing has been a discussion about the need for us to also electrify it to make it more economically and environmentally sustainable for decades to come.

Fortunately, the Government has a lever it can pull to move us towards that future. It just has to revisit decisions it made last year to cancel funding to help public transport authorities buy electric buses and ferries.

In Budget 2025, the Government cut $56 million in funding for public transport bus decarbonisation - funding for councils to purchase electric buses. The Government also decided not to co-fund broader transport decarbonisation, meaning there wasn’t enough funding available for Auckland Transport to fund its planned electric ferries. As a result, they’re now procuring more expensive-to-run diesel ferries, in the midst of the highest diesel prices seen in 15 years.

These decisions locked in our vulnerability to fossil fuel prices and now it’s costing us even more to operate diesel buses and ferries because of the fuel crisis. Just how much remains a mystery, as there’s an unspecified amount in this year’s Budget to help public transport authorities cover the high cost of diesel. We’re told it’s an unspecified sum due to commercial sensitivity.

It’s worth pointing out that other policy changes under this government have seen the end of free fares for kids and resulted in increased public transport fares. Now, public transport authorities are having to consider cutting routes due to the high cost of diesel.

As things stand, today we find ourselves more dependent on fossil fuels, spending more money on fossil fuels and public transport becoming more expensive. By not pushing towards the inevitable transition to electric buses and ferries we’re also missing significant opportunities to reduce emissions and delaying the modernisation of our fleets.

Then there is the issue of the country’s balance of trade. Fossil fuels are expensive and have to be imported. Currently our public transport operators are spending hundreds of thousands of extra dollars a week to cover the increased cost of diesel. The unspecified money (presumably millions) in the Budget will also be going overseas to strengthen other countries’ economies, instead of it staying here and bolstering ours.

Anyone who uses diesel machinery or drives a diesel vehicle knows how the cost has escalated. While prices have come down a little since the peak, it is still up 70% compared to before the fuel crisis. This is a massive cost for public transport operators to bear.

The good news is that these problems can be solved with pragmatic policy; the kind that should be able to attract bipartisan support. The additional, undisclosed, amount of funding in the Budget to support ongoing public transport services is better than nothing but funding for electric buses, and eventually ferries, would set us up for a more economically and environmentally sustainable future. In other words, greater certainty in an increasingly uncertain world.