Stuff NZ
"First the Government slipped the leftovers of the emissions trading scheme into the fridge, via a law change sporting the sleep-inducing title Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Other Matters) Amendment Act. It remains to be seen whether it will be whipped out later for a quick stir-fry or consigned to the recycling.
Under the changes in the new act, the date for agriculture to join the scheme has been postponed from 2015 to sometime, maybe never. Also on the never-never is the transitional measure that allowed businesses to surrender one unit for every two units of emissions. Half price till further notice.
The Government has also dropped plans to phase out a 90 per cent subsidy on high-emission trade-exposed industries and failed to limit the number of (cheap) international units that businesses can buy rather than being forced to buy Kiwi units. That has raised howls of outrage from foresters who say it is undermining their economic position.
All of that adds up to such a weakening of the ''price signal'' sent to emitters that critics say the emissions trading scheme will have a minimal effect, if any, on curbing future carbon emissions. ......While it has largely gone under the radar, the Government has radically changed its original commitment to climate change measures. And there may be more to come. Cabinet's next decision will be whether to adopt a ''formal'' target on emissions reductions to 2020, which so far exists only as a conditional offer to cut them to between 10 per cent and 20 per cent below 1990 levels. That decision is itself conditional on establishing the final rules, including access to international carbon markets.
It may not get many voters hot under the collar, but New Zealand's climate change response has just been quietly filleted."
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