ETS changes too risky for economy - NZ Medical Journal

Changes to New Zealand's emissions trading scheme will sabotage the economy and siphon money from badly-needed public services, a group of medical practitioners say.

The Government is proposing amendments including a carbon-credit deal for polluters, a price cap on carbon units and a two-year delay to agriculture's entry into the scheme.

However, today's editorial in the New Zealand Medical Journal said changes to the ETS and the Government's "low" target for reducing greenhouse gases by 2020 would "sabotage" the economy.

"Such subsidies for big polluters will siphon public funds away from other public services," the editorial said.

"The proposed amended scheme, now at select committee stage, places considerable costs on taxpayers, affecting those least able to afford it, whilst creating large subsidies for big polluters.

"If the bill is allowed to be passed in its current form, we risk increasing emissions and eventually driving the New Zealand economy into the ground."

Health gains from an ETS depended on how much emitters pay for emissions, the editorial said. The biggest losers from the changes would be Maori, Pacific Islanders, refugees, and low-income families.

The editorial's lead author, Dr Jamie Hosking, a public health medicine specialist at Auckland University, said the group felt it has a responsibility to speak out.

"We think an emissions trading scheme has got a lot of potential for health but it doesn't look like this ETS as currently designed, can deliver that," he said. "Climate change is acknowledged as the biggest public health threat of the 21st century – it's an issue we take very seriously."

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