Climate Change Minister Nick Smith has given a guarantee that the Emissions Trading Scheme will continue even if no successor to the Kyoto Protocol is in place at the end of next year.
The ETS came into effect at the beginning of 2008, with the electricity, transport and industrial sectors entering the scheme in July 2010.
Waste and synthetic gas sectors will enter in 2013 and agriculture in 2015.
But Dr Smith told a select committee on Thursday there is no consideration being given to changing the pricing impacts the ETS has in place.
The question is how much and how quickly is the scheme ramped up, and those matters are at the core of the terms of reference of a current review of the ETS, he says.
Dr Smith says he will have the final report from the review at the end of June.
