As part of its pre-election fiscal update, Treasury also released updated figures for the Kyoto liability today, showing it ballooning by 20% to $582 million due to decreases in the exchange rate and an increase in overseas carbon prices. They're now pricing carbon at almost NZ$26 / ton. A little over two years ago, it was less than $10. Which really does make you wonder why they didn't buy some credits back then, just to be on the safe side...
All along, our attitude to climate change has been to wait and see and hope it will all go away. But the risks have all been on the downside, and while we've been waiting, the cost of our inaction has been increasing dramatically. I'd like to think that politicians will learn a lesson for this, and act early just to be on the safe side in future - but somehow, I don't really expect them to.
