Climate change report on right track - Nats

National Party leader John Key says the New Zealand Institute is "on the right track" with a report that says the country should be a "fast follower" rather than a leader when it comes to climate change.
View video

In a report released today the institute recommends New Zealand ditch its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, which it says could reduce the competitiveness of New Zealand firms and hurt the economy.

The Government should instead delay meeting the agreement's emissions reduction targets to 2020 rather than 2012, it says.

Chief executive David Skilling said the report recommended New Zealand adopt a "fast follower" approach with respect to emissions reduction, and move no faster than comparable countries.

"New Zealand's primary exposure to climate change is economic in nature, and the nature and size of this exposure depends on actions taken by global consumers, firms and governments."

Dr Skilling said the Government's current proposed emissions trading scheme lacked strategic clarity.

National has committed to honouring the Kyoto Protocol and supports in principle the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme, but Mr Key said the report made some important points.

"I think David is on the right track in my view, which really is saying lets get a bit of balance into this equation," he said on TVNZ's Breakfast programme.

"I think David's making the same point I've been making around climate change, which is I think you need to balance your economic opportunities with your environmental responsibilities.

"If you get those things out of whack what you're likely to do is export a whole lot of industries who say `look New Zealand is no longer competitive, we'll just pack ourselves up and leave to another part of the world'."

However Mr Key said climate change was a serious issue and New Zealand had to play its part globally.

He said he thought new technology would play a crucial part in reducing New Zealand's emissions.

The institute report recommends an indicative long-term emissions target be identified, along with a pathway of how to achieve it.

After 2020, it proposes emissions reductions of 1 percent a year.

The target needed to be adjustable so the pace of emissions reduction could be altered depending on international developments.

Dr Skilling said the approach recommended by the institute differed from the Government's.

"The nature of the proposed target is contingent on developments in technology, markets and government action, rather than being fixed."

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said it sounded as if the institute was recommending New Zealand do as little as possible for as long as it could get away with it.

"We have been warned, not least by scientists from the Nobel prize winning Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change that the world has around 10 years to turn around our rapidly growing emissions.

"The institute recommends that we delay action as long as we can."

She said the report lacked numbers and rigorous analysis.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Susannah Bailey said Dr Skilling appeared to have stepped back in time.

"He's effectively suggesting we do next to nothing in the face of the biggest threat that's ever faced civilisation.

"He has entirely missed the severity and immediacy of the climate threat."

The Government has said it had no intention of withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol.

NZPA