08 Jul 2005

The Government has recently admitted to a mis-calculation of New Zealand’s liabilities under the new climate change regime, subject to the Kyoto Protocol. The recalculation of New Zealand’s liabilities means that the Government may have to pay more than $500 million in carbon charges in 2012. Previously, officials believed New Zealand would hold a $500m credit by 2012.

This has raised concerns that the Government will raise the carbon tax from $15 to $25 a tonne. Carbon Credits are currently trading at $38 a tonne in Europe. If this happens petrol would increase by 6.7c a litre and electricity 1.7c a kWh. That would mean the average electricity bill would rise $135 a year. Read the Article

Forest owners are angered at the Governments regime that they are making it difficult to implement. Government officials were denied access to private forests under a campaign organised by the Forest Owners Association. The officials are trying to access the land in order to measure forests so that the Government can calculate what the carbon credits. Read the Article

The Local Government New Zealand’s submission on the Climate Change Amendment Bill is now available.

The comments relate to Part 2 of the Bill which deals with a “Mechanism allowing landowners to access value created by Kyoto Protocol of sequestering carbon on land through establishment of forest sink covenants”. The submission is available on the LGNZ website