WELLINGTON, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand will be promoting policies to increase energy security at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Ministerial Conference next week, Acting Minister of Energy and Resources Hekia Parata said Friday.
Parata, who will represent the New Zealand government at the APEC Energy Ministerial Conference and the APEC Women and the Economy Summit in San Francisco, said she would attend two energy meetings.
On Sept. 12, she will attend the Energy Security Policy Roundtable, which will discuss the impact of energy security and technology on economic growth in the region.
"New Zealand supports efforts to boost energy security in the APEC region, through energy efficiency and initiatives that reduce demand on fossil fuels," said Parata.
"New Zealand is already one of world's leading countries in renewable energy with the second highest levels in the OECD, behind Iceland," said Parata.
"Renewables made up 79 percent of our total electricity generation in the March 2011 quarter. New Zealand has a target of 90 percent of electricity generation to be from renewable sources by 2025, and we are well on our way to achieving that."
On Sept. 13 the Joint Transportation and Energy Ministerial Conference will discuss moving towards a low-energy, low carbon sustainable transportation future.
"New Zealand is targeting a 50-percent reduction in New Zealand 's greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. We have a number of initiatives in place to reduce emissions, including the Emissions Trading Scheme that includes the transportation sector," said Parata.
Following the energy conference, Parata will attend the APEC Women and the Economy Summit, also in San Francisco from Sept. 13 to 16.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will chair discussion, which focuses on the government's key priorities of increasing the number of women in leadership, increasing women's economic independence, and driving economic growth.
"New Zealand already has a strong international reputation for gender equality, as shown by our fifth ranking in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2010," said Parata.
"We have also had a lot of recent success with the NZX (New Zealand stock exchange) proposing new rules that will require all publicly listed companies to declare how many women they have in senior roles and the New Zealand Institute of Directors establishing a new mentoring scheme aimed at increasing the number of women on NZX-listed boards."
Source:Xiong Tong