Federated Farmers and BusinessNZ both criticised the announcement of the proposed ETS changes in the week before Christmas.
The proposals, including changes to draft settings and price controls, are open for public consultation till February 28.
Federated Farmers climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said apart from the timing he is concerned the proposals include limiting the number of emission units in the system and doubling the carbon price cap to $50 a tonne, which will accelerate the purchase of productive pasture land for blanket pine forest carbon farming.
“Surely, the proposals announced should have been carefully considered by the new, independent Climate Change Commission,” he said.
Federated Farmers would also have preferred discussion on options for tree planting that don’t come at the expense of prime sheep and beef land.
“We’d like to talk about accounting under the ETS of trees planted already and into the future in shelter belts, riparian strips and smaller woodlots. With recognition of these options there’s great potential for additional carbon sequestration without the undermining of livestock production capacity and the hollowing out of rural communities.”
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the Government’s handling of environmental law change is disjointed.
“Businesses are already responding to other draft regulatory changes that will be related to ETS settings, including climate-related financial disclosures, ETS auction rules and others.
“Meanwhile, other relevant pieces of work including the draft Resource Management Act replacement are not yet available for consideration.
“The process of working towards a better suite of environmental laws and regulations is being handled in a piecemeal and disorderly way.
“Many people and businesses will be impacted by this sub-optimal approach to law-making.”
The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill being considered by the Environment Select Committee will restructure the ETS to enable it to put a cap on emissions covered by the scheme and to reduce that cap over time in line with New Zealand’s climate change targets. Submissions close on January 17.
The Bill does not specify the scheme’s settings, which will be done through regulation and it is those regulations the Government opened submissions on just before Christmas.
At the same time Climate Change Minister James Shaw named the six experts who will join chairman Rod Carr on the commission.
Farmer, academic, former Fonterra director, Plant and Food Research chairwoman and 2017 Women of Influence award winner Professor Nicola Shadbolt and Dr Harry Clark, head of the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre, are two of the six.
They will be joined by climate change scientist Professor James Renwick, senior research fellow at the NZ Climate Change Research Institute Judy Lawrence, Motu policy fellow Catherine Leining and Ngai Tahu chairwoman Lisa Tumahai.
Shaw said the commission’s role is to provide expert, trusted and independent advice to the Government.
“Some issues are too big for politics and the biggest of all is the climate crisis we face.
“Our decision to create the Climate Change Commission was about protecting climate policy from political mood swings, meaning every future government can stay focused on the job at hand: to help solve climate change and make our communities cleaner and healthier.
“Whilst it is an advisory body, I fully expect that the impartial and scientifically rigorous analysis it will provide will help keep future governments’ climate policy in check,” Shaw said.
DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said there is a lot of weight and responsibility on the commissioners’ shoulders, not only for farmers but for all New Zealanders.
“We’re pleased to see a range of skills sitting around the table across academia, science, think tanks and those with knowledge of the sectors from energy, transport and agriculture,” he said.
“The commission’s work programme over the coming years is going to be immense as they look to set emissions budgets, review targets and put in place the right plans to bend our national emissions curve and achieve reductions across all sectors and all gases.
The commission has been asked to recommend the first three carbon budgets, out to 2035, by early 2022.
