Tight ETS timetable is fly in good ointment
September 17th, 2009
Transport sector operators may welcome the Govt’s decision to only expose motorists to half the cost of carbon emissions from liquid fuels until 2013. Environment Minister Nick Smith reckons it will add 3c a litre to petrol prices. But the compressed time for implementing the Emissions Trading Scheme could well prove a headache. Transport fuels were to have entered the ETS on January 1, 2011, but now, in a bid to make up for lost time on other sectors, they will be in the scheme six months earlier than planned, from 1 July next year. They will come into the scheme along with carbon emissions from industrial processes and stationary energy, i.e., power stations.
Previous estimates of the time required between the passage of legislation - pre-Christmas - and implementation, suggest six months will be barely enough time to get organised. To make matters worse, the amended ETS legislation being drafted as we speak, will be introduced to Parliament next week, and then rushed through Select Committee and into law, mainly so the Govt can attend the Copenhagen global climate change summit with a straight face in December. It’s potentially a recipe for rushed law, followed by rushed implementation. It’s potentially a recipe for disaster. It wouldn’t surprise us to see the risk of poor implementation see the entry dates pushed back for all to 2011.
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