Smart Green
It's not good enough to be green. We need to be Smart Green. That means developing smart policies to cope with the uncertainties of climate change.
Anything would be smarter than the current Labour Coalition Government's policies.
The Same Government that told foresters and farmers they could keep the carbon credits attached to their trees. Credits worth up to $20,000 a hectare when trees cost $4,000 a hectare to plant. There was an inevitable surge in planting.
Then it dawned on the Government it was a billion dollars out on how much signing the Kyoto Agreement would cost. That was solved by doing what power hungry politicians do. They announced that carbon credits would be confiscated/ Then it further dawned this would drastically cut the incentive to plant trees with the potential to collapse the forestry industry. Hence the announcement of a tax on foresters who fell trees and convert to another land use. That has prompted a mass deforestation ahead of the possible tax.
It's hard to imagine a more disastrous set of policies. For the first time ever, New Zealand's plantation forests have shrunk. That's no mean achievement. So much for 'carbon neutrality'.
Smart Green requires quality scientific research to establish what effects a changing climate will have on New Zealand, so we may develop intelligent policies for today's mounting environmental and conservation issues.
Climate change is a justifiable concern. By the same token, we need to recognise the significant scientific uncertainties that still exist.
We should adopt a policy of least regrets. Our particular concern should be energy security. The Middle East remains volatile. Anything we can do to reduce our dependence on oil has to be good for the country and coincidentally helps us with climate change concerns.
For this reason, ACT supports a bipartisan approach to energy security, and anything that reduces dependence on oil.
We should make the search for other economic means of power generation a priority.
Innovation is also important in the production, distribution and use of energy supplies. Economic policies that facilitate innovation are good for the country and good for our response to shifting environmental threats.
It's not good enough to be green. We must be Smart Green.