Press Release 12.11.11 Dr Peter Cleave, Mana, Rangitikei

Press Release 12.11.11
Dr Peter Cleave, Mana candidate Rangitikei, today congratulated Geoff Bertram and Simon Terry, for their work in The Carbon Challenge, 2010.
‘It is so refreshing to see that someone has a good grasp of where we sit as a country regarding the Kyoto Protocol, said Dr Cleave. ‘It makes a change from listening to people like Ian McKelvie, National candidate for Rangitikei, dismissing the ETS as “a big con”. ‘
Dr Cleave asked people to consider the following summary from the Sustainability Council;
NZ is expected to overshoot its Kyoto target by 18%
• The ETS pays for less than 20% of the resulting liability
• The Government is borrowing forest credits to cover the gap and when this is properly accounted for, NZ is today 49 Mt in deficit – a multibillion dollar liability, the scale of which depends on future carbon prices.
‘We have to take our emissions policy seriously,’ Dr Cleave said. ’To be flippant or dismissive of any attempt to deal with emissions is irresponsible. This is a matter we have to round on and deal with properly internationally, nationally and here in the Rangitikei electorate. Already we are at the stage where if we are not careful the ETS could offer another example of corporate corruption like the practices on Wall Street that have given rise to the Occupy movement. We need a sound and sensible emissions policy that meets the Kyoto target.’
Dr Cleave concluded by saying,’ The tragedy is that the liability will fall on families and households. This is yet another form of corporate welfare subsidised by the less well-off. Working and unemployed people in the Rangitikei electorate and elsewhere should not be asked to carry the can for the multibillion liability involved in overshooting the Kyoto target while corporates turn a profit.’