Submissions on improvements to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) show that there is broad support to make improvements to the scheme, says the Minister for Climate Change.
The Ministry for the Environment has today released a summary of submissions made during last year's consultation on improvements to the ETS. The report is available here.
"I would like to thank everyone who took the time to make submissions on the proposals," James Shaw said.
"Just over 250 submitters contributed their views from a variety of sectors. We heard a consistent message that providing more certainty is important to scheme participants which is why we are putting in place more predictable processes to manage the supply of units over time."
Submitters' views have informed all of the proposals to improve the ETS. The first tranche of ETS decisions was announced in December last year. The most significant of these was the establishment of a framework to enable New Zealand's emissions under the ETS to be capped in future.
Further decisions to be announced over the next few months (tranche two) will be combined with tranche one to form a single bill amending the Climate Change Response Act. This bill is expected to be introduced to the House in 2019 and given effect in 2020. Recent announcement of the introduction of averaging accounting for new forests form part of tranche two.
Alongside these legislative changes, the Government intends to consult on regulations in 2019 which will provide the volume and price settings for the ETS over the next five years.
This report does not include a summary of submissions on proposals to improve the ETS for forestry. The Ministry for Primary Industries will release a separate report summarising submissions on these proposals later this year.
Alongside the release of the summary of submissions, the Ministry for the Environment is proactively releasing Cabinet papers and related material on the consultation and December 2018 (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/consultation/ets/) decisions.
The summary of submissions on improvements to the NZ ETS is here (https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/climate-change/improvements-new-zealand-emissions-trading-scheme-summary-of)
Original submissions on improvements to the NZ ETS may be found here (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/node/24628)
The Ministry for the Environment Cabinet papers may be found here (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/briefings-search)
Further information on the introduction of averaging accounting may be found here (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/briefings-search)
