Climate change: National endorses Government's carbon budgets, ACT opposes
National have endorsed the Governments three proposed carbon budgets through till 2035, meaning almost any likely Government over that period will be bound to enact them. Climate Change Minister James Shaw released the first three carbon budgets on Monday morning, which look to bind future governments to emissions caps from now until 2035. The budgets are aimed at eventually getting New Zealand to net zero emissions by 2050 a goal the National Party had endorsed. Shaw said he had consulted with every party in Parliament on the budgets in the hope of establishing a bipartisan consensus, so that the country could expect some certainty over the coming years, which are likely to feature several governments. He had set up a Parliamentary debate on the budgets on Thursday , so that parties could get their view on the budgets on the record. That would happen before he released his actual plan to meet the budgets meaning parties might be able to agree on the budgets themselves, just not the specific ways to get there. READ MORE: * James Shaw says climate transition must avoid sparking 'yellow-vest' protests * Election 2020: Jacinda Ardern says National's agriculture policy would take country back 'decades' * Emissions trading reform Bill passes, hard work ahead * Zero Carbon Bill passes with near-unanimous support, setting climate change targets into law * National Party won't reveal hand before crucial climate vote National Party climate spokesman Scott Simpson declined to endorse the budgets when asked by Stuff on Monday morning, but leader Christopher Luxon later put out a press release saying he endorsed them. Climate change is a huge challenge. National is fully committed to emissions targets including net zero by 2050, Luxon said in a statement. Todays emissions budgets are an important step towards those goals and we will support those budgets in Parliament on Thursday. The budgets closely follow the recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission in May last year. An ACT Party spokesperson said the party did not support the carbon budgets as a cap within the Emissions Trading Scheme would be sufficient to lower emissions. We should dump the Zero Carbon Act then simply keep the cap on the Emissions Trading Scheme, the spokesperson said. Setting a cap for New Zealand's emissions makes every other climate policy a costly duplication. Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said they did not support the budgets as they did not go far enough. Rawiri and I met with the Minister and made clear that Aotearoa needs more urgent and transformative action on reducing emissions. Te Pati Maori does not support the proposed emissions budgets, as we believe that they should be tighter and more ambitious. We have no time delay, Papatuanuku is crying out for help, Ngarewa-Packer said. In particular, its crucial that the budgets are updated to reflect more urgent action on methane emissions. Te Pati Maori are pushing for the government to immediately put a price on methane emissions, phase out synthetic fertilisers by 2025, and put limits on cow numbers. National ended up supporting the Zero Carbon Act which mandates the budgets after almost a year of consultation with the Government . Simon Bridges, who was leader at the time, faced opposition within his caucus on the decision to support the Act particularly from Judith Collins.