The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has signed an international declaration presented at COP26 this week, joined by more than 130 think tanks and advocacy groups from around the world.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Many Kiwis will feel uneasy about the prospect of James Shaw and his band of 14 bureaucrats claiming to represent all New Zealanders at the UN’s major climate summit. That’s why we’ve added our name to a declaration that lays out an alternative perspective to climate and environmental policy.”

The International Declaration on Market Environmentalism focuses on four core principles: the market economy, private property rights, decentralisation, and optimism & innovation.

"This declaration rejects the top-down, regulation-focused approach to environmentalism advocated by the likes of New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission,” says Mr Houlbrooke. “Instead, we’re asking James Shaw to consider how market incentives, technology, property rights, and on-the-ground knowledge can be leveraged to meet our climate obligations in a more efficient way.”

“This is 100 percent in line with our submission to the Climate Change Commission which pointed out how blunt regulations dreamed up in Wellington will never be as cost effective at curbing emissions as the incentives already in place under New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme.”

“No emissions were produced and no taxpayer funds were harmed as a result of the Taxpayers’ Union’s contribution to the Glasgow summit – which is better than can be said for James Shaw’s jet engine convoy.”

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