26 Oct 2012

ETS forestry comments taken out of context - Govt

7:45 pm on 26 October 2012

A spokesperson for the Minister for Climate Change says Prime Minister John Key has not broken an election promise aimed at encouraging more tree planting, and foresters must take a more long term view.

The Kyoto Forest Owners Association says when he was the leader of the opposition Mr Key promised to encourage climate-friendly policies such as forestry by providing incentives for more planting, but now he has broken that promise.

The association says the Government is allowing the sale of cheap foreign carbon credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme and that is undercutting the price of credits produced by New Zealand foresters.

Association spokesperson Roger Dickie says it's leading to deforestation and discouraging fresh planting, which Mr Key promised to support when in opposition in 2007.

However a spokesperson for Climate Change Minister Tim Groser, Jonathan Franklin, says Mr Key's comments are being taken out of context.

He says the price for carbon credits was never guaranteed and what Mr Key actually said was that tree planting would be encouraged by giving some carbon credits to the foresters who planted them in the first place.

Mr Franklin says forestry is a long-term investment and there is nothing stopping foresters holding onto their carbon credits until market prices rise to a level where they are happy to sell, in the same way investors hold shares.