ETS targets need teeth
Forest owners say the size of the government’s emissions target is not as important as the policies that support it.
Yesterday the government announced that its reduction target under the new international climate change agreement will
be 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. It has since acknowledged that this is equivalent to an 11 per cent reduction
below 1990 levels.
“This is the fourth target this government has issued. [See panel below] The three previous ones were not supported by
policies designed to achieve those targets so were effectively meaningless. What we now need are policies that show the
government is committed to achieving whatever target it sets,” says Forest Owners Association chief executive David
Rhodes.
Mr Rhodes says the latest target is likely to be criticised locally and internationally as being inadequate.
“The fairness of this criticism depends to some extent on whether this is a conditional, aspirational, goal that may or
may not be met. If so, then it is no improvement whatsoever on what New Zealand has already offered, in fact it is
weaker given that it is another decade distant,” he says.
“If it is genuinely going to be a target backed by government policy to ensure it happens, there will need to be major
changes to the ETS in the upcoming review and we are pleased to note the emphasis ministers Groser and Goodhew have
placed on this.
“New Zealand’s circumstances are unique. More than half our emissions come from farming and most of our electricity is
generated from renewables, so achieving even an 11 percent reduction will be a challenge.
“We may be able to do better than this, but we won't know what we can do until we have the ETS operating effectively. To
date the ETS has been a failure. It hasn’t encouraged consumers or industry to reduce their emissions and it certainly
hasn’t resulted in any sustained planting of carbon forests.”
ENDS