ETS or carbon tax? NZ needs a strategy

Sep 22, 2017

Suzi Kerr writes in Newsroom about the benefits of an emissions trading scheme vs a carbon tax.

In the lead up to this election there has been some debate about how New Zealand should respond to climate change and, in particular, about how we should go about lowering our emissions.

There are two main options to provide price signals to help both businesses and consumers to reduce their emissions: an emissions trading scheme (which is what New Zealand has currently) and a ‘carbon tax’ (which can involve taxing both carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions).