Time-travelling on the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

This resource discusses the history of the New Zealand government policy-making process in relation to the Emissions Trading Scheme. Emissions trading can be a powerful tool for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An ETS transforms a regulatory limit on emissions into an emissions price set by the marketplace, enabling economic incentives for producers, consumers and investors to choose lower-emission alternatives without losing competitiveness. Both the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) in operation today and the world in which it is operating are markedly different from those anticipated by policy makers when designing the system back in 2007-2008. As the New Zealand government reviews the NZ ETS, history can be a powerful teacher. What might we learn by looking back in time at how and why we arrived at today’s NZ ETS? Motu Economic and Public Policy Research has compiled an interactive timeline for the development and implementation of the NZ ETS from 2005 to 2015