A column by the Herald’s John Armstrong looking at the lack of consensus in Parliament on the emissions trading scheme.
An excerpt: (Read in full here)
“Even allowing for the difficulties of getting agreement on climate change policy when Act and the Greens are in the same room, the committee’s report is a cop-out.
“It goes for easy political options in flagging allocation of free emissions credits to vulnerable industries in a fashion which would offer little incentive for greenhouse gas emitters to change practices.
“It suggests a price cap for carbon which, as the Greens argue, would have the perverse effect of rewarding those who are causing the problem and punishing those – like the forestry industry – which thought they were part of the solution.
“Above all, it puts agriculture on the never-never by failing to set a date for its inclusion in the revised emissions trading scheme – a staggering omission given farming is responsible for close to 50 per cent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.”