“The price of just about everything is about to go up and the Green Party’s Zero Carbon Act, supported by every political party except ACT, is to blame”, says ACT Climate Change spokesperson Simon Court.

“After every other party in Parliament supported the Zero Carbon Act, James Shaw set crazy climate targets required by the legislation and now the courts are forcing the Government to meet those targets by cutting the number of carbon credits available and forcing up their price.

“The result is that prices are going to rise when households are already struggling with a cost of living crisis.

“This is what ACT warned about. The Zero Carbon Act forces us to make deeper emissions cuts than our trading partners and that will mean prices rise and economic activity shifts to countries that aren’t making deep cuts to emissions.

“If the Government wants to take climate change seriously, all it needs to do is announce that emissions under the ETS would be capped at the same level as our trading partners. That would meet our climate commitments and allow consumers to choose how they limit their emissions. If you emit less, you keep more of your own money.

“Instead, it has chosen the most expensive and bureaucratic possible route to emissions reduction.

“ACT has the best, simplest, and most durable climate policy. It would tie New Zealand’s emission cap to our trading partners’ emissions, allow people to make their own choices in view of the carbon price that creates, and ensure political durability by giving all New Zealanders a stake in the ETS as recipients of a carbon tax credit.

“ACT would ditch the Zero Carbon Act and the Climate Change Commission.

“New Zealand needs to play its part to reduce emissions, but not at the expense of our economic and social wellbeing. Otherwise, it won’t just be a brain drain that New Zealand experiences, there will be an outflow of capital and employment to countries which have no intention of cutting off their industries to achieve climate targets.

“ACT stands for real change in our climate policy, ensuring it is practical, effective, and not going to make life harder for New Zealanders.”

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