The Transport and Oil Working Group of the New Zealand Sustainable Energy Forum has just released Peak Oil: A Major Issue for New Zealand [PDF, 60 KB], which is designed as a quick guide for the public and the media on what the Peak Oil issue is about, how it affects New Zealand, and how New Zealand should respond.

The document includes a set of proposals for Government and individual action to prepare for and mitigate the challenge of Peak Oil. SEF Transport and Oil Working Group convenor Tim Jones says that, during the past year, the New Zealand Government has admitted that Peak Oil is a real issue, but it is still not being taken seriously enough.

"The Government's recently-released draft New Zealand Energy Strategy devotes only three paragraphs to Peak Oil. Although there's a praiseworthy focus on climate change in the document, the lack of attention to Peak Oil contributes to the draft Strategy being disappointingly weak in the area of transport," Tim Jones said.

Other Sustainable Energy Forum papers on the transition to a sustainable energy system for New Zealand are also available.