MEDIA RELEASE
8th May 2008
Fletcher Executives Said To Have Played Key Role In Achieving Emissions Trading Policy Changes
The daily carbon market news service, Carbon News (www.carbonnews.co.nz), reports “highly reliable” sources as saying
two senior Fletcher Building executives, Jonathan Ling and Hans Buwalda, were the key players in successfully lobbying
Climate Change Minister David Parker for major changes to the emissions trading scheme, announced on Tuesday.
Mr Buwalda has told Carbon News the policy shift was the result of a long period of consultation between the Climate
Change Leadership Forum and Government officials.
Fletcher Building’s environmental health and safety manager, Mr Buwalda told Carbon News that dealing with climate
change was too critical to get wrong.
Asked about his key role, Carbon News reports Mr Buwalda he said it was the Forum that had been influential in this
week’s changes which will delay transport entering the scheme until 2011 and will extend the protection given to heavy
industrial emitters to at least 2018, and possibly 2030.
Mr Buwalda and boss, Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling, are members of the forum that was brought together
by Climate Change Minister David Parker to advise on issues relating to climate change. Other members include business
leaders, unionists, environmentalists, farmers and public servants.
The forum has several sub-groups or clusters working under it, and Mr Buwalda is on Cluster B, which is working on
allocations.
Mr Buwalda told Carbon News that the bringing such a diverse mix of leaders together to work on policies was not common
enough in New Zealand, although it was practiced in other countries.
It was disappointing that last year the Government had chosen to announce its policy first, before consulting others,
but that the consultation was now bearing fruit, he said.
“It is clearly challenging for the forum to find consensus among such a wide group, but it has achieved it. Underlying
all the debates is a solid support for climate change.”
The forum’s release last week of a 10-point statement supporting emissions trading as the “correct” way of dealing with
New Zealand’s climate change emission countered another report, released last week by the New Zealand Institute of
Economic Research, which said that having the Government pay New Zealand’s international climate emissions bill would be
better for the economy than an ETS.
Mr Buwalda said Fletcher Building was not wedded to the free allocation of credits to heavy emitters, and had initially
argued for import tariffs and export credits to protect New Zealand industry which was subject to emissions costs
against the unfair advantage their competitors in countries with no carbon charges would have.
Fletcher Building made its submission to Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee in Auckland yesterday.
ENDS
www.carbonnews.co.nz