Here is also a blog summarising the talk and pointing to interesting related research from New Zealand / Aotearoa livingstreets.org.nz/car-dependen...

My talk on car dependence research for the Otago Transport Research Network & Living Streets Aotearoa Webinar Series is now on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUu-...

Diesel from $1.85 up to $4.09 Petrol from $2.55 up to $3.52 Last year NZ used 3.9 billion litres diesel, extra cost $8.7b and 2.9 billion litres petrol, extra cost $2.8b Total if prices stay high for a year: $11.5 billion

Here is similar data for 2024, showing the proportion of solar energy in final energy demand, per @ourworldindata.org. In 2019 only 5 countries were >3%: Greece, Chile, Japan, Italy, & Germany.

"Keat said that had two components - 100 percent renewable electricity generation and slowly electrifying the transport fleet. "Most other countries in the world outside MAGA US states and New Zealand are doing that now, at pace. For some reason, New Zealand's going down the 1980s path."

Weird how some people are saying Luxon and Willis are handling the fuel crisis well. Looking “credible” ain’t the same as doing the right thing. I’ve got a piece today at The Spinoff on 3 big things the govt is not doing and should be thespinoff.co.nz/politics/09-...

An article Paul Callister and I published in The Post on 7 April.

Stats NZ have released new data showing gross greenhouse gas emissions for 2025. 2019-2023: gross emissions fall 7.84 Mt CO2e or 9.1% (GDP: +8.6%) 2023-2025: gross emissions fall 0.30 Mt CO2e or 0.4% (GDP: –0.3%) What happened? www.stats.govt.nz/information-...

How can #climate pathways be used by the #finance community to set decarbonization targets for individual sectors? Over the past months, @unep.org developed an interactive tool together with #IIASAvienna & @pik-potsdam.bsky.social. Based on the #AR6 scenarios and the #ScenarioCompass…

BREAKING It will take months for jet fuel supplies and prices to normalise even if the Strait of Hormuz remains open, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says

"Having built a political brand around the idea that the previous government overreacted during an emergency, the coalition now faces its own crisis. But it has encouraged voters to distrust the kind of rapid, interventionist measures that might be most effective. theconversation.com/the-governme...

Every effective tool for reducing fuel demand right now (free PT, cycling, EVs, lower speed limits) is a policy the NZ coalition government has spent two years dismantling. My new piece in The Conversation on why they've gone quiet and how they get out of it. theconversation.com/the-governme...

Can anyone explain why there was a huge jump in sales of light commercial vehicles in New Zealand in March? 4708 sales, the highest in years. Nearly all diesel at 230 gCO2/km. Don't they know there's a war on?

And right on cue: www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

You probably know how the coalition Govt cancelled/weakened road transport policies. In this article in The Post, Paul Callister and I look at how the same is true for air transport, a sector is even more exposed to severe disruption. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

Normally when a government makes terrible decisions, the consequences don't happen for awhile. But this fuel crisis has shown how almost every single transport policy choice made by the current govt has meant NZ less prepared and more exposed to fossil fuel shocks. #nzpol

The NZAS klaxons are going full tilt. I'm too bloody tired to boost enough. Friends, please give me a helping hand here. #NZPOL

11/ India and South Korea face the loss of 100% of their jet fuel supplies, with Japan, Taiwan and China also badly affected. The UK is worst affected outside the Gulf, with a 41% loss. Jet fuel requires specialised storage and transportation, so reserves are often limited.

A view of Banks Peninsula, New Zealand taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman at 9.55am on 3 April, 2026. It was a hot nor'wester that day with a high of 25 ºC – the nor'west arch cloud formation can be seen to the west (right). (Source: images.nasa.gov/details/art0...)

We should be shifting freight from truck to train where possible. Any statement from KiwiRail since the oil crisis started? thefutureisrail.org/addressing-t...

NZ solar power generation has grown >60% in each of the past two years. 2025 generation was 0.5 kWh per person per day, enough for everyone in the country to power 10 5W light bulbs for 5 hours, boil water for 3 cups of tea, and travel 15 km on their e-bikes.

Bit of a departure for me, I wrote about a jigsaw! But I managed to squeeze climate change in there a bit too. temanawamuseumsociety.org/2026/04/05/n...

#30DayChartChallenge theme 'slope' makes me wonder if society has over-internalized relative over absolute rates of change. Have we had percentages drummed into us so much that we think exponential growth is the default? Good attempt here from @ourworldindata.org showing population slope ⬆️ 1999-2013

New Zealand ranks 2nd or 4th for geothermal power generation, depending on how you measure it. #30DayChartChallenge, Excel Recommended Charts category

“The Prime Minister has had to cut short his crucial Middle East talks seeking continuation of our oil supplies… The introduction of fuel rationing has given the union cause a large measure of public sympathy…” Dougal Stevenson reads the TV1 news in the opening scene of Sleeping Dogs (1977)

"One of our activities in 2026 [will be a] video series "Lifestyles of the NOT Jet Set," by Dr. @parkewilde.bsky.social of Tufts Uni…sharing lessons learned from experiments in personal & professional life with less flying by people in the United States and Europe." stay-grounded.org/us-fundraiser/

“Our Councils would today be facing an extra bill of about $50,000 a month or $600,000 a year if we had decided to stick with diesel buses”. The service has no risk from fuel shortages, is reducing the region’s emissions, PM10 + nitrous oxide + is also quieter. www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK26...

Also note that NZ is not only in the top 10 wealthiest countries, it is also one of the most equal of those countries. Average wealth is 1.9x median, compared to 4-5 in Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, and the US.

There is a consultation on reverting to the lower speed limit, and reducing speeds on several other roads in the area, open until 9 April. Looks like NZTA have realized their mistake on this one. www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/drivi...

Climate and energy are hard to get your head around, unless you're in the climate Bluesky community. Over the last year, I’ve been building something to help everyone else: @climatetrunk.bsky.social 🌳 One visual a week, for a year. Probably two years now, given I've already drafted more than 52.

The Horowai Connection, the most northerly section of Te Whau Pathway has opened. But continuing construction isn’t in Council’s budget. #HaveYourSay https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/news/stunning-te-whau-pathway-opens-today-now-lets-fund-the-rest-of-it/ 📸 Auckland Council

Southland and neighbours

tl;dr Flying is about to stop again, inbound tourism will fall off a cliff again, people flying north for a holiday might not be able to get back to Aotearoa.

Our initial reaction to the Prioritisation Report, that would cut existing science areas by up to 22% to pay new Tech development, expresses deep concerns. Do you think the report has strayed into policy-based evidence making? scientists.org.nz/news/13616237

Tourism professor Susanne Becken: "Tourism’s dependence on (affordable and available) jet fuel has long been a known issue; yet the sector choses to ignore this massive challenge." New post on the impact of the oil crisis on the aviation sector: blog.planetaryecology.org/2026/04/02/f...

UK to receive last shipment of jet fuel this week. No other tankers en route or ordered. Also widely reported by the BBC and the Financial Times. www.msn.com/en-gb/news/w...

Long may it continue... but I expect it will not be so cheap or easy to replace the stock of EVs for sale. Source: evdb.nz

864 new BEV cars sold in New Zealand last week. Also 22 new BEV utes, the most in 18 months - has been 1 or 2 per week for over a year. But dealers will run out soon and with the same demand spike worldwide it won't be easy to quick to get more in.

Cool, New Zealand gets a bonus week of unlimited oil

The NZ Ministry of Transport's fuel consumption & supply tracker: www.transport.govt.nz/statistics-a...

OK keyboard warriors, get at it. NZ Government wants your ideas on how to change our laws and regulations in response to the fuel crisis consultation.regulation.govt.nz/regulatory-i...

However ongoing, there's 10-20% reduction in global supply, so we should expect to reduce demand by that amount as baseline & have proper contigency plans for more if supply is cut further. The government's blithe advice to carry on as usual isn't adding up. 3/3

Free PT in Victoria Australia for April. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

An essential read for anyone in #nz - the fuel crisis is far, far worse than the govt is letting on energyandresilience.substack.com/p/every-coun...

The government is busy telling everyone about fuel shipments headed to NZ. I want to know about shipments of EVs, eBikes, eBuses, trains, and solar panels, so we don't need to worry about that other shit anymore.

In my latest for @newsroom.co.nz, I argue the government should make public transport free for at least three months. The $50 fuel payment costs $373M/year and doesn't cut a single litre of consumption. Free fares would cost less and actually reduce petrol demand. newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/27/f...

Yes, why is New Zealand's oil consumption at a 5-year high? theconversation.com/driving-in-t...

The life cycle emissions of this luxury grocery collection monstrosity are probably higher than some small fossil fuel combustion cars

The ongoing shift from cars to utes is driving emissions higher & undoing the benefit of electrification blog.planetaryecology.org/2026/03/25/w...