Today’s Government announcement to limit farm forestry conversions tinkers around the edges, instead of focusing on the real problem and stopping pollution at the source.

“Banking on pine trees to cut pollution is barely a band-aid on a gas leak,” says Green Party Climate Change spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick.

“The Government’s changes are an acknowledgement that there’s a problem in converting productive, food-growing land into biodiversity-squashing pine plantations, but they stop far short of fixing that problem.

“Polluters will still be allowed to wave away their obligations to reduce emissions by simply planting pines. Basically, you get to keep pouring gas on the climate crisis fire if you can afford to stockpile credits.

“The current rules in the ETS can’t be relied on to change the behaviour of our worst emitters.

“The real solution is cutting emissions at the source, driving structural change, and ensuring sustainable land use practices.

“It’s beyond time to re-think forestry offsets and focus properly on gross emission reduction.

“Carbon sequestration must be effective and sustainable when it is deployed. That means permanent native forests, which support our unique biodiversity and ecosystems.

“A real emissions reduction strategy requires stopping pollution at the source and rehabilitating native biodiversity. We can’t wait to unveil our Alternative Emissions Reduction Plan this coming weekend, for a system that works for people and planet, instead of exhausting both,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

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