6 Oct 2009: ETS and Biofuels

Daylight saving is a welcome reminder that spring is finally here after a busy winter. Lately my office has been working on a variety of different projects. These include the enormously challenging task of providing advice to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Review Select Committee, following up the release of the report on smart electricity meters with a submission to the Ministerial Review on Electricity Market Performance, and preparing a submission on the Sustainable Biofuel Bill.

In the advice I gave to the ETS Review Select Committee, I covered a range of topics, including climate change science, the 2020 target, complementary measures, the need for independence, agriculture, forestry, economic models, and research capability. To view my submission to the Committee click here

An ETS Bill that amends the scheme established by the last Government has now been introduced to Parliament. Submissions on the Bill closed on Tuesday 13 October. Climate change is the most important environmental issue of our time and my submission to the Finance and Expenditure committee is available here.

For those of you who have been following the debate around electricity and the use of smart meters, I went one step further in my submission to the group currently reviewing the electricity market. Because the public debate has been so confusing with conflicting information continuing to emerge, I have called for a moratorium on the roll-out of advanced electricity meters. If you would like to read my submission, click here [add link].

Also in September, my Annual Report 2009 was presented to the House of Representatives. This report contains an overview of the work of the office for the previous 12 months, as well as giving an indication of what lies ahead.

Looking ahead, the next report I will be releasing is concerned with mining. This report has two parts. The first part honours a commitment made by my predecessor, Dr Morgan Williams in his report on Solid Energy’s large opencast coal mine at Stockton on the West Coast of the South Island. Dr Williams undertook to return to assess whether the environmental management of the mine had improved. The second part of the report deals with some serious shortcomings in mining regulation.

The next reports that I will release are likely to be one on state of the environment reporting and a thinkpiece on the newly launched Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). I had planned to release a report in November on the potential conversion of lignite from Southland to transport fuel. However, due to the scope of the issue, it looks like this report will be delayed until early 2010.

In October, I will be speaking at the Biosecurity Institute Conference in Queenstown and look forward to learning more about this difficult and important area from fellow attendees. Late in the month I will be speaking on climate change to Executive Fellows at the Australian and New Zealand School of Government. Engagements in November include addressing MPs from Australia and the Pacific on climate change at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association seminar, discussing water quality with South Island high country farmers, and visiting Waikato to speak at a forestry conference. I look forward to reporting back on my experiences when I next write.