Sustainability Council

Media Statement

24 August 2014

Climate Policies Commit to Single Most Important Reform

Labour’s response to climate change includes the single most important reform required - a Carbon Budgeting process and a Climate Commission to drive it.

Promises to reduce emissions are meaningless without effective processes to deliver on them.

Carbon budgets provide that process by setting hard limits on how much carbon can be emitted each year, just as financial budgets constrain government spending.

And only with the establishment of a Climate Commission is there an independent body with the resources to prepare these budgets after assessing the practical options available.

Together these reforms provide the machinery needed to sustain effective action on climate change and represent a commitment to real progress.

Labour’s climate change policy announced today aligns with the Greens commitment to Carbon Budgeting and creating a Climate Commission. New Zealand First also supports an independent formal process to plan for a low carbon economy.

Under Carbon Budgeting, the ETS and other mechanisms to put a price on carbon are simply tools for delivering specified outcomes. The budgeting process integrates these pricing mechanisms with regulatory actions to deliver a least cost plan for meeting long-term targets.

ENDS

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