The Green Party is calling on the National Government to trade good carbon credits for bad ones, to ensure the integrity of our global commitment to cut climate pollution.
A Morgan Foundation report released yesterday highlighted the New Zealand businesses that made heaviest use of fraudulent emission reduction units purchased from Russia and the Ukraine to offset their climate pollution.
“The Government needs to clean up its act on the climate and trade real carbon credits for past fraudulent ones,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said.
“The National Government created the rules that allowed New Zealand companies to trade dodgy Russian carbon credits; National now needs to fix the rort.
“We can use our surplus of legitimate carbon credits to offset the dodgy ones National encouraged New Zealand businesses to purchase.
“New Zealand was the biggest user by far of fraudulent Russian and Ukrainian carbon credits in proportion to our emissions.
“New Zealand businesses bought these credits in good faith, under the rules set up by National.
“The Government can also take this opportunity to reassess its approach to climate change and start investing in reducing pollution at home, rather than relying on overseas carbon credits.
“That investment that will not only future proof our economy, but also protect our environment, and our international integrity,” said Mr Shaw.
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