The ETS auction’s failure today is yet another clear sign that the Government is failing us all on climate action.

“Yesterday, the acting Prime Minister admitted that the Government’s climate commitments were the bare minimum. Worse still, today’s ETS auction failure shows that even the market the Government is relying on doesn’t trust them to deliver,” says the Green Party’s co-leader and Climate Change spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick.

“Luxon’s Government has put almost all of their climate eggs in the basket of market mechanisms like the Emissions Trading Scheme, and left a gaping hole in the basket.

“We must take forestry offsets out of the ETS to ensure it functions properly to actually cap emissions. We must end free allocation of credits to our largest polluters. We must price agricultural emissions - the only sector currently not priced.

“He Ara Anamata, our Green Emissions Reduction Plan, showed how we can reduce emissions five times faster than the Government’s plan, while reducing the cost of living and improving people’s quality of life.

“Our plan outlines an economy that supports people and the planet, instead of exploiting and exhausting both.

“That means a Green Jobs Guarantee, planting native trees instead of pine, efficient public transport, sustainable food production, restoring our wetlands, designing our cities better, distributed and resilient renewable energy, real just transition plans led by local communities and so much more,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

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