The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming James Shaw’s commitment to reduce net – not gross – carbon emissions.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Climate change policy is a global challenge. What counts is not where cuts in emissions occur, but that they are genuine. It makes sense for us to sequester carbon by planting trees offshore where land and labour is cheap. That’s better than covering valuable New Zealand land with pine forest, and far better than forcing down emissions in particular local sectors using costly regulations.”

“Of course, James Shaw’s sensible focus on global, rather than local, emissions flies in the face of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations. The Minister should take the obvious next step and announce he’s rejecting the Commission’s entire costly approach. There is no need for an ideological, regulation-driven ‘transformation’ of New Zealand’s economy and lifestyle when we already have tools like the Emissions Trading Scheme and offshore sequestration to affordably do our part.”

“The Climate Change Commission and others who dismiss offshore carbon sequestration argue that the longer we wait to reduce gross local emissions the harder it will be. They are wrong. Carbon sequestration buys vital time for technologies like solar power, battery storage, and low-emission cattle feed to improve and become more affordable.”

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