The Business Council for Sustainable Development has warned the Select Committee reviewing emissions trading delay in finalising the ETS is already hampering hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in forestry, clean energy and biotechnology which would come from having a fixed carbon price. There’s too much uncertainty around carbon trading, evidenced by the deluge of conflicting submissions and changes in position while the EU and US firm up their commitment to a cap-and-trade scheme. Federated Farmers wants the ETS dropped, full-stop, while Mobil NZ threw its weight behind a transparent and efficient carbon tax which is “revenue-neutral.” Since the change in Govt the Business Roundtable has continued to advocate a tax over market mechanisms, and recently called for the brakes to be applied after the Ministry for the Environment discovered NZ actually has a carbon surplus after all.

The Govt has pushed out the timetable for approving the ETS, with the hope multi-party accord can be reached by September. Labour’s climate change spokesman Charles Chauvel has put a proposal to Climate Change Minister Nick Smith raising the possibility of cross-bench consensus, with no word back yet on what’s do-able. Adding to the need for speed is the production of draft cap-and-trade Bills in the US and Australia.

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