Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the interim committee has two specific tasks to complete ahead of the creation of a permanent body under the Zero Carbon Bill, which Parliament is considering before creating a permanent Climate Commission next May.
The panel will be chaired by David Prentice, a professional engineer, former managing director of Opus International, and chairman of Business NZ’s infrastructure sub-group.
Lisa Tumahai, the kaiwhakahaere (chief executive) of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, the South Island’s largest tribal incorporation, with substantial agricultural holdings, is his deputy.
Also on the committee are the immediate past Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment DrJan Wright, former Meridian Energy chief executive Keith Turner, climate change economist Suzi Kerr and agricultural greenhouse gas research expert Dr Harry Clark,
“The first and most controversial task is to determine how agricultural emissions, nitrous oxide and methane, which collectively account for around half the country’s total contribution to greenhouse gases should be included in the ETS,” Shaw said.
The Coalition agreement that allowed a government to be formed last October included agreement that 5% of agricultural GHGs should enter the ETS.
The second issue is to start planning for transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2035, assuming normal hydrological conditions.
“These are two of the most politically charged questions in the Government’s climate change action agenda with the committee and commission intended to take an independent view and make recommendations,” he said.
The interim committee has to make recommendations the Government will consider in mid 2019, following examination by the permanent commission.
Some but not all members of the interim committee are expected to be appointed to the commission.
A key issue will be whether to include both nitrous oxide and methane or just nitrous oxide given the absence of technological fixes to the methane gas produced by cows and sheep.
Methane is a far more powerful GHG than carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide but is comparatively short-lived.
New Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton has spoken publicly about the potential wisdom of including only nitrous oxide in the first instance.
The committee’s terms of reference include whether to include agriculture in the ETS at all and where the point of obligation for declaring emissions should be applied. – BusinessDesk
