National confirms zero action on climate change

Amendments to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) announced today confirm that National has zero commitment to curbing New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions says Labour's Climate Change spokesperson Moana Mackey.

“The Government’s latest cop-out further subsidises polluters at the expense of taxpayers. The longer we leave this problem the further behind we fall and the bigger our international obligations get,” Moana Mackey said.

“We are leaving future generations to pay for our pollution. Agriculture continues to be excluded from the scheme, and it is clear that National has no intention of ever starting to transition the sector into the ETS.

“National is giving farming a free pass to pollute and is expecting the taxpayer and other sectors of the economy to cross-subsidise agriculture, the sector which contributes half of our emissions.

“The Government says that agriculture won’t have to come in until the science exists to mitigate their emissions, or until our international trading competitors put a price of carbon on their agricultural sectors. No other major emitting sectors got these concessions.

“How many of our trade competitors have to move before the government decides that it's time for agriculture to enter the ETS? And what level of mitigation does science have to provide?

“Absent from this announcement was any mention of the promised introduction of a mechanism that would place a restriction on the proportion of international units a participant can surrender to meet their ETS obligations. Given the low international price of carbon it is imperative that the Government move to restrict the purchase of cheap international carbon credits.

“The Government has confirmed that the $25 ‘fixed price option’ will remain until at least 2015, to align it with the Australian ETS. But if the Government is serious about harmonisation with the Australian scheme then they should also introduce a ‘floor price’ as the Australian's have done.

“New Zealand needs to take urgent action on climate change now. Future governments will be faced with having to make major cuts and radical changes because of the John Key Government's apathy and total lack of action on climate change,” Moana Mackey said.