Bye bye to carbon neutrality
Paula Oliver writes on the big backdown:
The Government looks like it is retreating on its big climate change push as quickly as it advanced the surprise concept of a ‘carbon neutral’ New Zealand.
Prime Minister Helen Clark’s announcement of a two-year delay to transport’s inclusion in the flagship emissions trading scheme yesterday can only be seen as backpedalling.
And with the regional petrol tax delay, they are in full retreat.
It is only 18 months since the Prime Minister first voiced the aspirational target of taking the country to carbon neutrality. A lot has changed since, with food and oil prices surging as high mortgage rates also begin to bite on household budgets.
It is no longer as easy to convince people of the worthiness of paying more now for everyday goods in order to prevent global warming.
It has always been about a trade-off, and the Government has tried to con people that one can go carbon neutral and not have it greatly affect businesses and consumers. I actually accept that one has to bear some costs to reduce carbon emissions, but we should be honest about the fact there will be costs.
Paula looks at the three planks to the Government’s plans:
- The biofuels push is languishing in a select committee as the global debate about the merit of some of the fuels rages.
- The regional fuel tax – to be used to fund the ‘sustainable’ electrification of Auckland’s rail system – is being toned down so the country’s largest city isn’t slapped with another 5c a litre on the price of its petrol.
- And now the first part of the biggest of all the climate change policies – the emissions trading system – is also being slowed down so that drivers don’t feel more pain at the petrol pumps.
This is not a small backdown in one area. Their entire programme of environment sustainability is on the retreat.