The appointment of an interim climate change panel is a good first step towards setting up a climate change commission, says one group.
According to the NZ Forest Owners Association (FOA), the commission, which is expected to be up and ready in May, will need to have an equivalent role and powers to the New Zealand Reserve Bank.
“As recommended by the previous Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, the commission should be a body independent of government whose job it will be to set carbon budgets, then to keep the government of the day on track to meeting the emissions reduction goals that New Zealand has taken on under the Paris Agreement,” FOA president Peter Weir said.
Weir noted that it is critical for the final climate change commission to have a strong leader supported by practical and imaginative people who understand climate change mitigation. They need to have the ability to communicate this to New Zealand’s elected representatives and to the public at large, he said.
“FOA is heartened by New Zealand First’s strident opposition to the importation of foreign credits into the New Zealand ETS,” he continued. “Forestry Minister Shane Jones is citing a potential liability for New Zealand of $36 billion by 2030 if we take this course.”
Weir also mentioned Globe NZ’s “Resourceful NZ” scenario, which charts an achievable path to carbon neutrality by 2100: an additional 1.5 million hectares of plantation forests.
“If New Zealand is to meet short and long-term climate change goals then more plantation forests will be the key driver of that achievement,” he added. “They will underpin a transition from fossil fuel to transport fuels made from forest biomass.”
