Agriculture's inclusion into ETS to be assessed by ‘interim’ climate commission

The job of deciding whether or not agriculture should be included under the emissions trading scheme (ETS) will be largely done by an “interim climate commission,” Climate Change Minister James Shaw says.

Mr Shaw says the decision on the issue won’t come until at least 2019 and could even be delayed further than that.  

In its Coalition agreement, the government said it will be up to a yet-to-be-formed Climate Commission to decide if agricultural emissions will be moved into the scheme.

If the plan got the nod, it would mean farmers pay tax on 5% of their total on-farm emissions, with the revenue raised from this being used to encourage agricultural innovation.

Mr Shaw had previously said this commission would be in place “within the first six months of next year.”

But he now says the official commission won’t be in place until sometime in 2019.

At a press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Mr Shaw said the government will go to the nation to ask what targets should form the basis of a Zero Carbon Act. 

It means legislation will not be introduced this year, as the Government looks to consult over next year before it's drafted. An interim climate change commission will be set up, to begin setting New Zealand on a course to be carbon neutral by 2050. 

“From May next year, we’ll have a conversation with all New Zealanders about the potential target to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050," the ministers said. The plan is to introduce the Zero Carbon Bill

into Parliament by the end of October next year.

Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions,

“We have said the Climate Commission ultimately makes those decisions – but we want it to get a head start," Mr Shaw says.

He says the interim commission's work will be handed over to the new commission to make a final decision.

“The new [official] commission will be making those decisions but will be doing so with the benefit of having that 12-18 months of background work already done.”

It is unclear how long the Climate Commission will take to reach a decision or when that would be announced to the public.

Ardern said public consultation would begin from May next year.

Zero carbon legislation was a key election plank of the Green Party and central to its Confidence and Supply agreement with Labour.