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Source: ONE News -
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Agriculture looks likely to get a free pass out of the emissions trading scheme if National is re-elected, despite generating about half of the country's carbon emissions.
Labour pledged at the weekend to bring forward agriculture's introduction into the scheme, but Prime Minister John Key said yesterday that agriculture would not be "thrown to the wolves" if other countries did not get on board.
"We'll only bring agriculture in if it's consistent with what we see from other producers around the world and at this point, we're not seeing a lot of movement in other countries," Key said.
Labour leader Phil Goff said on Sunday that agriculture would be brought in to the ETS in 2013 if the party was elected in November. That would net $840 million to go towards a new research and development tax credit.
The exclusion of agriculture from the scheme was "distorting the economy", Goff said.
Labour would phase in the scheme, with only 10% of the agricultural emissions sheeted back to farmers in the first year.
But Key said if agriculture were included in 2013, New Zealand would be alone on the global market.
"We are very conscious of the international competitiveness of our export sector. It's our largest export earner, it accounts for a lot of the potential growth in the agricultural sector in New Zealand and we think our farmers should be competitive."
As big users of petrol, diesel and power, farmers already paid a share of the ETS costs.
It was also more difficult for farmers to mitigate their carbon emissions, Key said.
"If you are going to put an emissions trading scheme on them for the methane and nitrate gases that come from the burping and farting of animals when there is no other option, that's pretty tough on them."
While it has not yet subjected agriculture to the ETS, New Zealand has led the establishment of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Emissions, which had its first meeting in Wellington last year.
Ministers from the 29 member nations will meet to finalise a charter for the group next month in Rome.
Who pays:
The emissions trading scheme charges those who emit greenhouse gases. It is aimed at providing an incentive to reduce emissions to 1990 levels.
After December 2012, businesses will need to surrender one New Zealand Unit ($25) for every one tonne of emissions.
When:
Sectors enter the scheme at different times and have to record and report their emissions in the run-up to their entry.
Forestry - January 1, 2008
Transport fuels - July 1, 2010
Electricity production - July 1, 2010
Industrial processes - July 1, 2010
Synthetic gases - January 1, 2013
Waste - January 1, 2013
Agriculture - January 1, 2015
