A 40% emissions reduction on 1990 levels certainly sounds ambitious but there are credible ways in which this target can be achieved. Research by the Green Party looking into low cost or no cost methods of emissions reduction has shown how emissions reductions in energy generation, transport and agriculture plus forest maintenance and planting can be combined with buying some credits on the international market to achieve the 40% reduction. Their calculations are relatively conservative and it is highly likely that New Zealand could achieve greater reductions (and therefore buy fewer credits) with the right policies and incentives.
It is a shame that neither the Government nor any of the other political parties sought to produce and publish research examining what can feasibly be done in each sector as this is the key issue needing discussion. Instead the Government’s focus was on broad-brush economic modeling, based on a range of limiting assumptions, of what may happen to the New Zealand economy as a result of different carbon prices. While economic modeling certainly can have a place in decision-making, its limitations need to be understood and its results should not be taken as gospel truth.
It is a shame that neither the Government nor any of the other political parties sought to produce and publish research examining what can feasibly be done in each sector as this is the key issue needing discussion. Instead the Government’s focus was on broad-brush economic modeling, based on a range of limiting assumptions, of what may happen to the New Zealand economy as a result of different carbon prices. While economic modeling certainly can have a place in decision-making, its limitations need to be understood and its results should not be taken as gospel truth.
