If National believe in the free-market like they say they do, they need to send the correct market signals. If there is no cost to farmers polluting, there will be no innovation or strong action on improving their greenhouse gas emissions.
Where we could be taking the lead and developing the green technologies to sell to the world, we await others to see what they will do.
So instead of boldness and fiscal responsibility they’ve delayed entry for agriculture until 2015 already, and are now looking at putting it off for another 3 years, despite their own review recommending entry in 2015.
That means we taxpayers foot their bill.
Fonterra can’t afford to pay, but apparently your average tax-payer (or small business) can.
In further sops to polluters they will keep the cap for pollution credits at $25 per unit (1 unit = 2 tons of CO2), when the review recommends raising the cap $5 per year (and it already costs more than $NZ25/unit in the EU’s similar scheme); and, the buy one get one free polluter subsidy will phase out over 3 years instead of terminating at the end of this year.
That’ll really put the boot in and help us stop climate change.
Global problems? Market leaders? Even our own clean green image? Don’t call National…
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