WELLINGTON: New Zealand significantly raised its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, but said it still wanted a climate change policy that was achievable and affordable for the agricultural based economy.
The South Pacific country said it would commit to cutting emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, which would be submitted as part of negotiations on a comprehensive agreement in Paris at the end of the year.
“While New Zealand’s emissions are small on a global scale, we are keen to make a fair and ambitious contribution to the international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the most harmful effects of climate change,” said Climate Change Minister Tim Groser.
New Zealand opted out of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, and associated with the United States and other countries in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It had previously suggested cutting emissions by 5 percent of 1990 levels.
Groser said the new target was the equivalent of cutting emissions by about 11 percent of 1990 levels.
“The target will remain provisional until we ratify the new international agreement,” he said.
About half of New Zealand’s emissions are from farm animals and agricultural production for which there are few carbon reducing technologies. The country also generates about 80 percent of its power from renewable sources.
Groser said the domestic carbon trading scheme, the second oldest in the world, which allows businesses to offset their carbon emissions by buying credits, would be also be reviewed as part of a review of policies needed to achieve the new target.
However, it would ensure the new policy did not impose unfair costs on any particular sector or groups.
