Climate Change Bill Tabled

The Government tabled its climate change bill a day later than it had anticipated. Cabinet appears to have made some minute changes yesterday, so the bill could not be printed until overnight. There were also market reaction issues to manage around the second part of the bill which seeks to enact the Government's commitment to renewable electricity generation through imposing a 10 year moratorium on new thermal generation. The delay means that bill will not have its first reading until next week. It will go to select committee. The plan is for submissions to close around the end of February, and for a report back in June/July. There is one positive - Government appears to have done some listening on the 50,000 tonne emission threshold. The Hive team are still very concerned at the trail blazing nature off this policy. We would bee much more comfortable if we moved at the same time as major trading partners. Business New Zealand, the Greenhouse Policy Coalition and the Major Electricity Users Group have all been critical.