Climate Change Law – New Zealand government “must respond” to UK emissions move – See LawFuel.co.nz – Online NZ Legal Jobs

LAWFUEL.co.nz – Legal Jobs Newswire – Britain’s Climate Change Bill has become law, making Britain the first country in the world to implement legally binding carbon emission reduction targets.

“This signals Gordon Brown’s and his Labour government’s commitment to drastically reduce the country’s domestic emissions, a lead the New Zealand government has little choice but to follow.”

That’s according to Bryan Gundersen, Senior Partner and energy and climate expert at Kensington Swan.

“Britain has already reached its Kyoto targets, unlike New Zealand. Our liability continues to grow. This is perhaps an unexpected state of affairs when one considers our small population and large forestry assets”.

“In addition, this latest move by the British Parliament shows a significant level of political will and co-operation on the climate change front that is lacking in New Zealand.

“If we want to remain competitive in selling our goods and products to the UK market, we have to at least be fast followers of Britain.

“Obviously, the British market is of importance to New Zealand exporters, and we already have to battle against the negative ‘food mile’ perception when selling our goods overseas.

“This is something the select committee, to be set to review our climate change policy, will have to take into account” Mr Gundersen said.

“This continues the international trend of governments taking the response to climate change seriously.

“The European Union continues to set emission reductions, Australia is gearing up to implement its Carbon Pollution Reductions Scheme, the United States will soon be setting reduction targets, and even China is making headway into managing and reducing their domestic carbon emissions and has announced plans to establish a nationwide emissions trading scheme.”

“New Zealand cannot afford to fall too far behind on this one,” says Mr Gundersen.

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