Greenpeace is welcoming the Climate Change Commission’s latest recommendations on Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) settings, and says the advice should not only be accepted but should be binding and free from political interference.

The Commission’s advice for 2024-2028 warns that further action is needed to correct the Emissions Trading Scheme, after Government announcements last year collapsed emissions prices, preventing meaningful emissions reductions.

"The Commission’s recommendations must be binding to ensure that the ETS actually leads to a cut in climate pollution that’s in line with our national and international climate commitments," says Greenpeace climate campaigner, Christine Rose.

The advice comes following a decision made by the Government late last year to reject advice to raise the price of ETS units, as a result of the cost of living crisis.

"Addressing the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis needs to happen simultaneously. One cannot be addressed at the expense of the other. To trade off action on climate change against the cost of living is short-sighted - and will leave both people and the environment suffering as a result of inaction," says Rose

"At present, the Emissions Trading Scheme is also hamstrung by the fact that it only addresses half of New Zealand’s emissions. The agriculture industry, and in particular intensive dairy, is New Zealand’s biggest climate polluter, and is currently exempt from the Emissions Trading Scheme. The sector has proven completely unwilling to reduce its emissions, yet has been handed the power to develop its own pricing scheme - He Waka Eke Noa - which will reduce emissions by only about 1%.

"That’s nowhere near the action we need. The Government must scrap He Waka Eke Noa, and bring agriculture fully into the Emissions Trading Scheme, to make the system fit for purpose - actually addressing the climate crisis."

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