Climate policy change of heart wins support
Business will welcome the Government's signals to follow trading partners on climate change policy and delay carbon emissions trading till after 2012.
Energy Minister David Parker told a Climate Change Policy Symposium in Wellington yesterday that the Government believed economy-wide price-based measures for carbon emissions were likely to form the mix of post-2012 policies.
Types of measures under consideration from 2012 were emissions trading and offset planting of forests.
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said emissions trading would put a price on carbon and the Government was signalling that would not happen till 2012.
That was sensible while New Zealand waited to see what its key trading partners did. Australia, the United States, Japan and China have not signed the Kyoto protocol. Business has previously criticised the Government for signing the Kyoto protocol ahead of key trading partners in the Asia-Pacific.
Mr Parker said yesterday: "The pace and extent of New Zealand's response needs to take account our national interest. It should be in step with what major emitters are doing - including our major trading partners. This is in line with the long-term position being taken by other developed countries."
National released an environmental policy discussion paper yesterday - Bluegreen Vision. The discussion paper proposes carbon emissions trading for electricity generators.
Mr O'Reilly said Business New Zealand was concerned about it because it would raise the price of electricity.
Mr Parker said National's change of heart on climate changes was welcome and that some of National's policies in the discussion paper were the same as the Labour-led Government's ideas.
National said Mr Parker's announcements yesterday on climate change were underwhelming. The Labour Government had no substantial policy 15 months before the Kyoto protocol was due to take effect.
Greenhouse Policy Coalition, a lobby group of large energy users, said the Government had taken a pragmatic approach to the introduction of emissions trading which was a complex issue.
New Zealand's position was challenging when 50 per cent of carbon emission came from agriculture and another 20 per cent from vehicles. If New Zealand moved before its trading partners on emissions trading it risked being on its own in the Asia-Pacific region and shouldering extra costs.
Murray Jackson, chief executive of one of the largest thermal generators Genesis Energy, said: "The question I would ask is when will the Government look to incentivise wind? At this point wind is not economic."
Genesis has put on hold a 18MW wind farm in South Auckland because of the rising cost of wind turbines.