The Dominion Posts reports on the last backtracking on Emissions Trading
Petrol will be exempted from the Government's emissions trading scheme for two years as Labour tries to dampen cost of living concerns.
It is understood the scheme, which effectively taxes greenhouse gas emissions and applies across the economy, will exempt fuel till 2011, rather than from January next year as originally planned.
The delay is a big U-turn on Labour's centrepiece climate change policy.
Figures show New Zealand's Kyoto protocol commitments have just topped $1 billion, the amount other countries will have to be paid for carbon credits to cut our greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012.
However, Climate Change Minister David Parker insisted it did not include the impact of the emissions trading scheme.
With agriculture - New Zealand's biggest emitter - excluded till 2013 and petrol delayed till 2011, its impact will be hard to measure. Labour is also struggling for support from other parties to pass the required law.
