The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out James Shaw for greenwashing for wasting $90 million on corporate welfare for Fonterra which will not reduce one gram of New Zealand’s net emissions.

Reacting to the announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The taxpayer-funded handout to one of the country’s largest companies won’t make a shred of difference to New Zealand’s net emissions which are already governed by the Emissions Trading Scheme. It is nothing more than greenwashing — being seen to be doing something rather than actually doing anything.

“Our correspondence with Minister Shaw in relation to the earlier NZ Steel announcement revealed that the subsidy was not part of a package that also reduced the cap on emissions so the emissions will simply be shifted elsewhere in the economy.

“Over the past five years the Government has wasted billions of dollars on pointless emissions reduction policies that don’t actually reduce emissions. The money generated from the Emissions Trading Scheme should be returned to taxpayers through a carbon dividend rather than dished out by a Minister set on buying the world’s most expensive photo-ops.

“If Minister Shaw wants to be a world leader in climate change, he should be aspiring to create the most efficient, low-cost ETS in the world for other countries to use as a blueprint for their own emissions reduction."

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