National will slow the introduction of the next stage of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to avoid overspending, Environment and Climate Change Spokesman Nick Smith has announced.
The scheme is currently scheduled to step up to a full obligation for the transport, electricity and industrial sectors on January 1, 2013. This will be exchanged for a three-phase system, as suggested by the ETS Review Panel.
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Balancing the cost impacts of the ETS with the need to transition to a low-carbon economy is key, Dr Smith says, and the new schedule will help achieve that.
“[The new] approach slows the cost impacts on households and businesses but continues the progress needed to drive investment in renewable energy, clean technologies and forestry,” he says.
The new schedule has three steps, in January 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Offsetting will be introduced in the 2013 phase, Dr Smith says, and the overall change to the scheme will be “fiscally neutral”.
Dr Smith says “it is not in New Zealand’s interests” to bring agricultural emissions into the ETS at this stage.
“The lack of any practical and real technologies to reduce agricultural emissions means it would only impose a cost or tax on our most important export industry,” he says.
“It would also have New Zealand too far ahead of our trading partners on climate change mitigation measures.”
National will review its position on agricultural emissions in 2014, and include agriculture if new technologies are available and further emission reduction progress has been made internationally.
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