Government’s Right Foot Needs to Catch Up with its Left Foot on Climate Change, said Tourism Industry

The tourism industry welcomes tentative moves by the Government to make its climate change policies fairer to small businesses, said Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIANZ) Chief Executive John Moriarty. Mr Moriarty was commenting on central government’s confirmed policies on climate change released today.

Mr Moriarty said proposed policies are estimated to cost the tourism industry $114 million per annum in lost profits after the year 2007 and small businesses still remain shut out from mechanisms that incentivise the reduction in CO2 emissions. He welcomes signals from the Government that it is still prepared to consider solutions that remove these disincentives.

“The Government has put its ‘left foot forward’ by recognising climate change as an issue to resolve. We encourage it to also put its ‘right foot forward’ and provide small businesses with the opportunity to take advantage of Negotiated Greenhouse Gas Agreements and the Projects mechanism.”

“Quite simply, carbon taxes are a disincentive to businesses that have already chosen to implement initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions. We advocate tax policies that provide credits to those businesses that have had the foresight to get involved in CO2 reduction initiatives such as Green Globe 21, or purchase EBEX 21 carbon credits.” The Tourism Industry Association provides Carbon Neutral Services using EBEX21 carbon credits. The Association’s Regional Roadshows, and the New Zealand Tourism Conference are examples of this.

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