NZ should move in concert on climate change

24 October 2007

New Zealand should move in concert with other countries on climate change

The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce agrees with the New Zealand Institute’s conclusion that New Zealand should be cautious in its policy response to climate change.

“While there are some positive elements in the government’s proposals, we have a number of concerns around the haste of their introduction and the insufficient consultation with business,” said Chamber CEO Charles Finny.

“It is imperative that New Zealand does its bit on this crucial global issue. However, New Zealand must take care before taking any unilateral action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or moving ahead of our trading partners.

“Higher energy and transport costs would be detrimental to New Zealand’s international competitiveness if our trading partners did not face the same measures.

“If economic activity responsible for emissions shifted offshore in response to higher domestic costs it would be harmful to our economy yet importantly, global emissions would not be reduced. In fact global emissions might increase if that economic activity were to shift to another economy with more lenient climate change policies.

“With such a small proportion of global emissions, New Zealand is too small for its actions to have any significant impact on global emissions.

“It is true that lagging behind other countries would damage New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible international citizen. We favour moving in concert with other countries.

“New Zealand cannot influence the rest of the world by moving ahead of the pack. We can achieve the most by participating fully in the international debate and encouraging other countries to take action but New Zealand should not take punitive action on itself unilaterally.

“All effort should be placed on achieving the best possible global agreement for the environment,” Mr Finny concluded.

ENDS

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