Dr Eric Crampton: Fix ETS instead of banning carbon forestry

For practical purposes, not emitting a tonne of carbon dioxide is equivalent to pulling a tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and securely sequestering it, so long as the accounting is sound.

The Zero Carbon Act consequently requires net zero for greenhouse gases other than biogenic methane. And the Emissions Trading Scheme is meant to find the least-cost mix of emission reductions and removals for the sectors it covers.

Mike's Minute: Why didn't the Government drop the carbon auctions?

I'm not surprised. But because I'm not surprised, I am disappointed.

Papers released publicly for the first time reveal the Government considered axing their mad carbon auctions.

But, and here comes the disappointment, they didn’t.

Andi Cocroft: Carbon Credits or Productive Landscapes?

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has reignited an important discussion about the future of New Zealand’s landscapes. His latest report argues that forestry should gradually be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), or at least its role significantly restricted, because the current system is encouraging carbon offsetting rather than reducing emissions at their source.

The recommendation will inevitably be viewed through the lens of climate policy, but there is a broader question that deserves equal attention.

Mike's Minute: It's not the taxpayers' job to "clean up" businesses

So we have Golden Bay Cement and we have New Zealand Steel.

In their own way, both companies that make things we need as a country and would struggle without.

One of them said they would close because of the ETS cost of producing cement locally, and the other is now making steel with its renewable powered electric furnace.

Neither paid for their improvements. We did.

Is this good business?

Pee Kay: Killing Prosperity with Good Intentions

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

We have all read and heard about the ETS but do we all know just exactly what the mechanics of the scheme are, why politicians are so obsessed with it and do we know just how much the ETS affects us as a country and personally?

I didn’t, my knowledge was superficial, so I went searching.

John Raine: Canary in a Climate World - When Political and Media Narratives Depart from Scientific Evidence

Richard Prebble commented (22^nd June in Brash and Mitchell) on the problematical operation of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The present article (updated from a Substack post https://jkr31350.substack.com/p/canary-in-a-climate-world) was intended primarily as a review of a new contrarian publication on climate change but again questions the politicisation of the current climate narrative and the very existence of the ETS. It calls again for a more realistic adaptation approach to climate change.

Dr Eric Crampton: How to improve the emissions trading scheme

Announcements earlier this month make the Emissions Trading Scheme a bit less credible over the longer term. The problem can be fixed – and relatively easily. But it should be fixed.

First, a bit of background.

John Robertson: Carbon Corruption - A Racial Land Grab Hidden Behind Pine Trees

So here we are — in 2025 — being told that if you own land in New Zealand, you’d better check your ancestry before you plant too many trees.

 
That’s not a joke. That’s policy.