The Environment Committee has called for submissions on the Climate Change Response (Late Payment Penalties and Industrial Allocation) Amendment Bill. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, 6 April 2023. You can make a submission on the Parliament website here. A sample submission for you to personalise is here (note the warning on the top. Yes, I mean it).
The bill does some tinkering with the ETS, some of which is useful. But it also massively lowers the bar for pollution subsidies, by scaling their eligibility to a carbon price of $25 / ton - prices we haven't seen since before 2020. The net result will be a massive increase in subsidies: every industry currently classified as "moderately emissions intensive" will be reclassified as "highly emissions-intensive", getting them a 50% increase in free pollution permits. It will also make new industries eligible. And the effect of that will be weaker incentives on polluters to reduce their emissions, and so a higher emissions pathway for Aotearoa. Coming in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, its a commitment to more storms, more floods, and more deaths.
(Naturally, the change was made without consultation, and at the request of big polluters. Which tells you whose pocket our "my generation's nuclear-free moment"-government is really in).
The problem clauses are in section 15 of the bill, specifically subclauses 15(1) and 15(3). Both of these need to be removed. If not, well, we have only to look at the last three weeks to see the consequences and costs of this sort of status quo foot-dragging.
Update: Added sample submission.
