Emission cuts about 15% - Key

New Zealand's 2020 target for greenhouse gas emission cuts will be about 15 per cent, Prime Minister John Key says.

More than 77,500 Kiwis have signed up to a Greenpeace campaign calling for a 40 per cent reduction, on 1990 levels, in the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

The Government's public consultation does not finish until Friday, but it has already ruled out the tough target.

"It won't be 40 per cent," Key said yesterday.

"The OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] average is 15 per cent, Australia is 14 per cent. My guess is that New Zealand will be somewhere in that benchmark. We don't intend to be a world leader when it comes to climate change. We'll do our bit."

A 40 per cent reduction would "absolutely decimate our economic activity", he said.

"We can't afford to write that cheque."

Greenpeace climate campaigner Simon Boxer said there was plenty of time for New Zealand's position to change before negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

"I think it's a bit out of John Key's hands. If the only way that China and India will come on board is to offer 30 or 40 per cent, I can't see John Key would sit there at the same meeting with [US President] Barack Obama, and everyone else, holding on to his 15 per cent."

Climate Change Minister Nick Smith hinted that New Zealand's target could be lower than Australia's because agriculture made up about half of this country's emissions, making change more difficult.

Boxer disagreed, saying agriculture had the greatest options of any sector for reducing emissions at the lowest cost.

Key's comments come a day after the Government released an economic report that estimated by 2020 it would cost each New Zealander $60 a week to achieve a 40 per cent cut.

Green Party climate change spokeswoman Jeanette Fitzsimons said the report was full of false assumptions. "It is blinkered to the opportunities and benefits from adopting a strong responsibility target."

Satellite data released by Smith's office on Sunday showed New Zealand will have a 6.6 million-tonne Kyoto Protocol credit by 2012.

"A large-scale tree-planting programme over the next 10 years would take us a long way towards meeting a responsible 2020 target," Fitzsimons said.

Fears are held New Zealand's clean, green reputation could be hurt by a weak emissions reduction target.

New Zealand will announce its target by August 10, when an international climate conference starts in Bonn, Germany.

Oxfam said yesterday unless wealthy, developed countries like Australia and New Zealand acted urgently to curb emissions, some Pacific island nations could become uninhabitable.

- © Fairfax NZ News