Climate change: the cost of abandoning biofuels

One of National's first acts on gaining the government benches was to abandon the previous government's Biofuels Sales Obligation, which would have seen oil companies required to sell an increasing percentage of biofuels as a way of pushing a change in transport infrastructure. The move cost jobs as existing biofuels producers shut their doors, but it also cost us in higher transport emissions. The release of the Net position report quantifies that loss: 1.1 million tons over CP1. At current carbon prices, that works out to be $27.6 million. With the government scraping for every penny, the decision looks more stupid by the day.