The Government
has now asked officials to undertake further policy work, in consultation
with stakeholders, due to be reported back to ministers in March.
Policies linked to carbon tax, such as Negotiated Greenhouse Agreements
for major energy users emitters, are likely to be retained in
some form. The review also highlighted some forestry, land use
and agriculture policies that need refinement to ensure they help
cut emissions.
David Parker
said some areas that officials would report back on in March include:
• Incentivising
investment in renewable energy;
• Encouraging
new tree planting and reducing deforestation;
• Improving
fuel efficiency of the transport fleet;
• Assessing
options for a narrow-based carbon tax on major energy users and
emitters who do not meet world best practice;
• Improving
energy efficiency and conservation.
With the tax
now abandoned, continuation of NGA’s in some form is seen
by many large industrial emitters as necessary to demonstrate
industry action and to act as an insurance policy should a tax
be revived by a future government. Industry representatives are
generally relieved there is no announcement (yet) of a move towards
emissions trading because of the many allocation problems and
the likelihood it will be nearly as costly as a tax (perhaps even
more so, according to one Australian study).
The fourth
bulleted point above: “Assessing options for a narrow-based
carbon tax on major energy users and emitters who do not meet
world best practice” should send a clear signal to all heated
greenhouse producers that they are not ‘off the hook yet’.
Government
announcement re carbon tax welcomed
In our media
release on 21 December Brian Gargiulo said:
‘The
horticulture industry has welcomed the Government’s announcement
that it will not be proceeding with its proposed carbon tax.
The announcement
is great news and will be appreciated by growers throughout New
Zealand as a positive step toward ensuring the horticulture industry,
worth an annual $NZ4.7 billion to the New Zealand economy, remains
competitive and sustainable. We have been very concerned as to
the negative impacts of the proposed tax on growers’ businesses,
with particular regards to maintaining our international competitiveness.
Energy is
an essential component to the horticulture industry – from
areas like heating within the greenhouse industry, cultivation
of land, irrigating crops, right through to packing, storage,
processing and transportation of horticulture products to markets.
Because of
rising energy costs, we believe most growers have already taken
significant steps towards creating and maintaining energy efficient
businesses. For these growers the tax would simply have been an
additional cost that couldn’t be recovered and this would
not have driven behaviour change.
The horticulture
industry would welcome the opportunity to work with Government
to further improve energy efficiency whilst ensuring businesses
remain competitive.
INDEPENDENT
REVIEW CONFIRMS KYOTO PROJECTED SHORTFALL
An independent review of New Zealand’s Kyoto liabilities
confirms the Governments revised estimates of a 36 million tonne
CO² deficit compared to its baseline emissions allocation
over the period 2008-12. UK consultants AEA Technology found the
estimates of how Kyoto forests will contribute to removing CO²
from the atmosphere to be “generally sound and reasonable.”
It agrees with the Government’s 25% downward revision in
likely forest sink credits. This is partly because trees planted
on former scrub land (a difficult judgement) are not eligible
for carbon credits but it also reflects a marked drop in the rate
of new forest planting.
The reviewers
note two main areas which could cause further revisions to the
projections: changing land use and energy demand in the transport
sector. The review suggests the worst case scenarios for deforestation
and afforestation may be too optimistic. It also criticises the
modelling of energy demand and emissions in the transport sector
as somewhat simplistic.
GREENHOUSE
INDUSTRY ENERGY EFFICIENCIES
The Tomato and Fresh Vegetable product Groups’ and SFF funded
projects: Energy Efficiencies in Greenhouse Production and Improving
Crop Productivity in Greenhouses need to continue to their fruition
and individual growers need to keep their focus on cost effective
ways to save money.
TOMATO
IMPORTS
A total of 3,840,660kgs of tomatoes, with a value of $9.16million
were imported for the year ending 30 November 2005.
The figures
for October and November were 132,360kgs and 23,040kgs respectively.
The annual
figure of 3,841 tonnes is down 10% on the previous year’
total of 4,239 tonnes while the value is almost the same at just
over $9.0million.
TOMATO
EXPORTS
Tomato Exports for the calendar year to 30 November were 2,885,592kgs
valued at $7.25million. For the same period in 2004 the figures
were 1,547,548kgs and $6.16Million.
The monthly
volumes for October and November were 120,275 and 287,089kgs respectively,
up 82% on the same period in 2004
