Climate Change

I've been battling with how to tackle this subject for a week or so now - it's so big and it's the kind of thing that divides people. Whoever you are, you're likely to have some sort of an opinion on it. You might believe that climate change is very real or you might believe there's not a word of truth in it. Either way it's worth paying attention to.

If you think it's very real you probably already know and accept that it's going to hit you in your pocket. The upcoming Emissions Trading Scheme is likely to hit every New Zealander via food and amenity prices and the price of fuel. The line the Government is taking (via the Kyoto Protocol) is that we've polluted the planet for too long and it's time to make that harder for people to do. The most effective way to do that is to make things that pollute cost more.

I could go into the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and what that means the simple fact is it's a huge piece of legislation so I won't. Instead I'll point you to this article which explains what the ETS is and how it works. If you can't be bothered reading through it then what you need to know is that the ETS is a part of our obligation under the Kyoto Protocol, is aimed at reducing carbon emissions (and therefore limiting climate change as much as possible) to 1990 levels by making anything that produces one of 6 main emission gasses (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) more expensive to produce (and therefore more expensive to buy).

For this post I'm going to look at three things: where each party stands on the ETS currently before parliament, any changes they wish to make to the document and finally if they recognise climate change as a problem at all.

Once again, Labour's lack of current policy stands in our way, however, the ETS is a very current issue and Labour are busy trying to pass legislation before Parliament breaks up for the election. While Labour's Emission Trading Scheme has been criticised by many, it's set to become law. The biggest problems with Labour's ETS is the way it's structured. Currently, transport accounts for 16.4% of emissions while farming and agriculture accounts for 49.4%. But as it stands, transport will be phased into the ETS in 2011 and agriculture in 2013, a move which environmentalists have scorned.

Labour's ETS includes a one-off cash rebate (of about $112) for households facing increases in electricity bills in 2010 and the establishment of an 'energy efficiency' fund from next year to help people insulate their homes.

National want to honour New Zealand's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, but they have many concerns about Labour's 'hasty' effort to implement an ETS. In particular they highlight;

• That the Government will profit by between $6 billion and $22 billion from the tendering of emissions permits.
• Lack of clear analysis on exactly how much the scheme will reduce emissions.
• Lack or transparency about the real cost of the scheme on households. National believe there are many hidden costs within the scheme that will hit households financially.
• The large number of significant and last-minute changes that neither the select committee nor submitters have been given an opportunity to analyse.

It is important to remember that National's primary goal is to increase wealth within New Zealand. In the Environment Policy launch on Waiheke Island, John Key said -

"I want to be quite open today about the reality that if National leads the next Government we won’t always please every environmental group all the time. That’s because, unashamedly, National will seek to balance environmental goals with our other goals of increasing New Zealand’s economic prosperity and providing more opportunities to Kiwis from all walks of life."

He further believes that good environmental policy and good environmental policy is something that often goes hand-in-hand - something which could be argued against by asking if that were true, would we really be facing the issues we're facing today?

National's promises to make changes to the ETS within 9 months of taking office, aiming for "50 by 50" - 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. These changes will be "led by" the following principles -

1. The ETS must strike a balance between New Zealand’s environmental and economic interests. It should not attempt to make New Zealand a world leader on climate change.
2. The ETS should be fiscally neutral rather than providing billions of dollars in windfall gains to the government accounts at the expense of businesses and consumers.
3. The ETS should be as closely aligned as possible to the planned Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, with, where possible, common compliance regimes and tradability. National wants to closely co-operate with Australia as we develop our respective schemes.
4. The ETS should encourage the use of technologies that improve efficiency and reduce emissions intensity, rather than encourage an exodus of industries and their skilled staff to other countries.
5. The ETS needs to recognise the importance of small and medium enterprise to New Zealand and not discriminate against them in allocating emission permits.
6. The ETS should have the flexibility to respond to progress in international negotiations rather than setting a rigid schedule. This way, industry obligations can be kept in line with those of foreign competitors.

From the introduction to New Zealand First's Environmental Policy -

"New Zealand First is a party of sensible environmentalists. We have a genuine concern for the environment and its preservation, but we are not captured by the extremist fringe of the environmental movement."

New Zealand First support Labour's ETS and are key players in getting the legislation passed but they are not by any means leaders or environmentalists. They will only go ahead with implementing Kyoto standards if they are "in harmony with [the goals] of our major trading partners". In this area it's worth keeping in mind that New Zealand First are huge supporters of the US-New Zealand trade agreement and the US are the only country that has not signed the Kyoto Protocol.

As you may imagine the Green Party have strong views on Climate Change and are one of the only parties to have a dedicated policy document on the issue. The Greens have spent considerable effort negotiating with Labour on the ETS and only decided to support the policy after public consultation (you can check out the YouTube video of their press conferences on the issue here and here (for before their decision) and here and here and here (for the announcement of their decision))

Essentially the Greens would like to see us move forward and reduce our carbon levels and expose the New Zealand economy to the world price for carbon. For everyday New Zealanders that means that things are going to become more expensive. It's worth remembering however that, as National pointed out, a lot of money will be generated for the government through this scheme and the Greens plan to invest that money in creating new industries for the West Coast of the South Island (who are currently quite dependant on the coal industry), helping low-income households cope with the raised costs of living, funding energy efficiency (insulation) in homes, renewable energy and transport programmes and partially shielding important but vulnerable industries from the full force of the cost of the scheme.

The Greens are particularly aware of the emissions produced by the agriculture sector but show that the beef and lamb sectors have not increased their carbon production past 1990 levels. The Greens do not want to punish individual farmers either, more they would push the cost onto processing companies such as Fonterra. It's worth remembering however that this will only result in an even higher cost of dairy at the supermarket.

Undoubtably, the Maori Party believe in climate change, so much so that the will not support the ETS. Tariana Turia explains this stand by saying:

"We remain strong in our belief that, fundamentally, the ETS is still just an Emissions Trading Scheme, when what is required is an Emissions Reduction Programme [...] A 2% reduction in emissions over ten years is simply fiddling while Rome burns. The time for scheming is over. Now is the time for a programme of action, [...] A real Emissions Reduction Programme will require significant changes in our lifestyle, but the alternative, of doing almost nothing, will be a lot worse."

The Maori Party are also strongly against the staggering that Labour have given to the transport and agriculture industries calling it "pay the polluters" and pointing out that it should be "polluter pays".

In a nutshell United Future accept that climate change is happening and believe something needs to be done about it. Like the Greens, United Future have a dedicated climate change policy which explains their stand and their goals. As briefly as possible, they would like to balance environmental and economic effects, promote both public and private initiatives (such as working with the banks to finance home insulation and retro-fitting), encourage the disposal of old, inefficient cars and encourage biofuel use.

Two unique and innovative parts of United Future's policy are outlined below -

• Require all flats and rental properties to be advertised as to whether or not they are insulated. in order to help tenants make an informed choice and will incentivise landlords to improve the insulation and energy efficiency of their properties. Anyone who's been stuck in a dank, dark flat in Winter (especially if it was awesome when they moved in during the warmer months) might agree that this could be an fantastic little piece of legislation.
• Require all new Government vehicle fleet purchases be hybrid vehicles where possible.

United Future do not want to cause extra costs to be put onto the agricultural sector, more they want to encourage research and development by both the Government and Fonterra aiming to reduce methane emissions from the industry. For those costs the farmers must bear, United Future supports a scheme whereby the cost of carbon can be offset by planting trees on the farm (particularly around waterways) instead.

Act are the only party that outright do not believe in climate change. Rodney Hide has been quoted as saying -

"The data and the hypothesis do not hold together. Al Gore is a phoney and a fraud on this issue and the emissions trading scheme is a worldwide scam and a swindle."

Policy 18 (of 20) on climate change states:

"There’s no doubt the climate is changing. Indeed, it’s been changing for millennia. What’s in doubt is the anthropogenic effect. That is, the level that humans contribute to this change in climate through emissions of carbon, etc."

The only things Act plan to do in the climate change arena are "adopt saner policies", although what these are exactly is unknown. They also state that a lower carbon tax is better than carbon trading.

If you wish to understand more about the effects and issues around the ETS I'd recommend you take a look at some of these articles:

• Kyoto power costs pass to consumers
• Large industries cry foul over emissions trading scheme
• Scheme will hit everyone's pocket
• Urgent call for Rudd and Clarke on climate change action