Suspend emissions trading scheme, say big greenhouse gas emitters

The Huntly Power Station. Photo / Amos Chapple

The emissions trading scheme should be suspended until the serious concerns industry has about it are addressed, Catherine Beard, executive director of the Greenhouse Policy Coalition which represents large industrial emitters, said.

She told the parliamentary select committee reviewing the scheme yesterday that many large emitters had been taking action to reduce their emissions since the early 1990s and some had reduced their emissions below 1990 levels - New Zealand's target under the Kyoto Protocol.

"Instead of being rewarded for taking early action these companies that reduced their emissions prior to 2005 will be penalised under the act."

The allocation of free carbon credits to protect firms exposed to international competition from rivals not facing a carbon cost should be on an intensity (per unit of production) basis, and the scheme should have a price cap to guard against extreme volatility in international carbon prices.