Developing Environmental Markets

The New Zealand Emission Trading scheme will be the first national scheme outside Europe and, as of 1 July 2010, will be one of the most comprehensive including transport and industrial emissions.

The government has proposed a number of amendments to the emissions trading scheme passed into law in September 2008. One of the changes is to introduce a transition phase to the scheme between 1 July 2010 and 31 December 2012. During this period, participants will be able to buy emission units from the Government for a fixed price of $25. In addition, participants in the energy, industrial, fishing and liquid fossil fuel sectors will have to surrender only one emission unit for every two tonnes of emissions they produce.

Australia introduced bills to enact the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to Parliament in June 2009. The current government is committed to emissions trading as a central part of its low carbon strategy and is lobbying parliament to create the required legislative framework. If finally approved, the CPRS will cover around 75 percent of Australia’s total emissions and will directly affect around 1,000 entities.

Japan’s voluntary emissions trading scheme (JVETS) was launched in 2005 and may become the foundation for a broader compulsory scheme.

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