New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

Taxing questions: is National glossing over the likely cost of administering its new ‘revenue measures'?

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
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Proposing to alleviate the financial pain of this “squeezed middle”, it may be key to determining who forms the next government.

Key Points: 
  • Proposing to alleviate the financial pain of this “squeezed middle”, it may be key to determining who forms the next government.
  • Just what these might cost to set up and administer may be a missing element of the picture.
  • As the tax policy makes clear, short-term concerns about the cost of living trump longer-term considerations about climate change.

Revenue neutral means new taxes

    • To ensure the package is revenue neutral, four new taxes will be introduced.
    • If the policy is aimed at those who vote, then three of the new taxes are aimed at shifting the tax burden to those who cannot vote.
    • A second stream of revenue will come from a tax on offshore gambling.
    • Generally, two of the new proposals appear to gloss over the massive IT costs that tend to accompany new taxes.

Safeguarding the ‘un-squeezed top’

    • What the package does not do is engage with the problem of tax-free wealth.
    • Just this week the International Monetary Fund once again urged New Zealand to introduce a comprehensive capital gains tax.
    • National’s package favours “the un-squeezed top” by reinstating tax deductions for rental properties, reducing the brightline test to two years, and leaving capital gains untaxed.
    • Read more:
      How to read the political polls: 10 things you need to know ahead of the NZ election

      And the bottom?

NZ's geothermal wells offer a cheap way of storing carbon permanently -- equivalent to taking 600,000 cars off the road

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 26, 2023
Carbon, Photosynthesis, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, Technology, Carbon storage in the North Sea, Coral, Optimism, Industry, Food, Atmosphere, Electricity, Climate change, Research, Forest, History, Government, Wind, Wood, Tree, Carbonated water, US, Forestry, IPCC, UN, Climate change mitigation, Water, Natural gas, Climate, Biomass, Coal, Seaweed, Renewable energy

Its latest report highlights CO₂ removal as an essential activity if society wants to avoid warming the climate by 2℃ or more.

Key Points: 
  • Its latest report highlights CO₂ removal as an essential activity if society wants to avoid warming the climate by 2℃ or more.
  • Carbon dioxide removal includes all kinds of land- and engineering-based practices that extract the gas from the atmosphere and lock it away permanently.
  • Read more:
    On top of drastic emissions cuts, IPCC finds large-scale CO₂ removal from air will be "essential" to meeting targets

Putting CO₂ into geothermal systems

    • What’s more, the geothermal industry has already done the hard (and expensive) part to figure out how to capture CO₂ that comes up with the geothermal water and inject it back underground.
    • Unfortunately, geothermal systems cool down over time.
    • We can make up the decline by burning logs or forestry waste to further heat the geothermal water and generate more power.
    • It’s an involved process, but at the end you can turn a geothermal system into a carbon sink that also generates renewable electricity.

Decarbonisation on a budget

    • For this, it is helpful to measure decarbonisation costs.
    • We have recently calculated the decarbonisation costs for different geothermal technologies.
    • A homegrown carbon-removal industry could end up as a strategic strength, particularly as social licence for clear-felling forestry continues to be eroded.

Challenges for CO₂ removal

    • With our low-cost advantages, New Zealand has an opportunity to accelerate the rest of the world along the CO₂ removal learning curve.
    • The government is addressing this issue by reviewing the Emission Trading Scheme, but the world will still need billions of tonnes of CO₂ removal to undo historic damage.
    • Here's what research shows

      Others argue land availability and competition with food crops will limit how much biomass can be made available for carbon removal.

    • If we’re to undo the climate legacy of centuries of carbon-hungry activity, it’s going to take all kinds of carbon removal.

Government of Canada legislates climate accountability with first net-zero emissions law

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Countries, Government, Foreign relations, Carbon dioxide, Climate change policy, Greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon neutrality, Renewable energy, Climate change, Kyoto Protocol and government action, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

Yesterday, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, welcomed Royal Assent of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which has become law.

Key Points: 
  • Yesterday, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, welcomed Royal Assent of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which has become law.
  • It marks the first time a Canadian government has legislated emissions reductions accountability to address climate change, by setting legal requirements on the current government and future governments to plan, report, and course correct on the path to net-zero emissions by or before 2050.
  • Enshrines in legislation Canada's commitment to set national targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada with the objective of attaining net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • This new, more ambitious target will be formally submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change shortly.

Devon Energy Establishes New Environmental Performance Targets Including Net Zero GHG Emissions

Retrieved on: 
Monday, June 21, 2021
Carbon dioxide, Greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon neutrality, Renewable energy, Climate change policy, Climate change in the United Kingdom, Climate change, Articles, Natural environment, Kyoto Protocol and government action, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

Since its founding in 1971, Devon has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the oil and natural gas industry.

Key Points: 
  • Since its founding in 1971, Devon has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the oil and natural gas industry.
  • The companys long history of using advanced technologies to improve efficiencies across the business will be key to delivering on its ambition to achieve net zero GHG emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2050.
  • To demonstrate Devons progress in achieving its longer-term net zero ambition, the company is targeting reductions of its Scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions intensity by 50% and methane emissions intensity by 65% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.
  • Our new targets reflect our dedication and commitment to achieving meaningful emissions reductions while pursuing our ultimate goal of net zero GHG emissions.

Article - Carbon leakage: prevent firms from avoiding emissions rules

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Articles, Climate change policy, Environmental policy, Carbon finance, Emissions trading, Resource economics, Carbon price, Low-carbon economy, European Union Emission Trading Scheme, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

Existing carbon pricing measures in the EU

Key Points: 
  • Existing carbon pricing measures in the EU

    Under the current emissions trading system (ETS), which provides financial incentives to cut emissions, power plants and industries need to hold a permit for each tonne of CO2 they produce.

  • Due to the last economic crisis, demand for permits has dropped and so has their price, which is so low that it discourages companies from investing in green technologies.
  • What the Parliament is asking for

    The new mechanism should align with World Trade Organisation rules and encourage the decarbonisation of EU and non-EU industries.

  • By 2023, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism should cover power and energy-intensive industrial sectors, which represent 94% of the EU's industrial emissions and still receive substantial free allocations, according to MEPs.

CRU explains how to understand India's complex carbon emissions problem

Retrieved on: 
Friday, November 13, 2020
Climate change policy, Carbon finance, Greenhouse gas emissions, Articles, Renewable energy, Natural environment, Policy, Emissions trading, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

CRU's Global Carbon Emissions Service will help to solve this complex power puzzle.

Key Points: 
  • CRU's Global Carbon Emissions Service will help to solve this complex power puzzle.
  • Data from CRU's Global Carbon Emissions Service shows the average intensity of CO2 emissions from Indian aluminium production is 48% higher than the global average.
  • For example, hydropower, which globally reduces carbon emissions in aluminium production, is a power source which brings its own share of problems in India.
  • Indian aluminium producers can reduce their emissions, but the approach may be very different to other parts of the world.